Influential House Republican Announces He’s Walking Away from Office at Age 53

A top member of the House’s Republican leadership from Texas will not seek another term.

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, 53, said this will be his last term, according to Fox News. Arrington was first elected in 2016.

“I have a firm conviction, much like our founders did, that public service is a lifetime commitment, but public office is and should be a temporary stint in stewardship, not a career,” Arrington said.

Arrington said this year’s passage of President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” was a career highlight.

BREAKING NEWS: JODEY ARRINGTON, House Budget chair, will retire at the end of this congress. pic.twitter.com/DEcKD6F1qj

— News Now (@NewsNowUS) November 11, 2025

“It was a very unique, generational impact opportunity, to be almost ten years into this and to have the budget chairmanship, and to lead the charge to successfully pass that and to help this president fulfill his mandate from the people,” Arrington explained. “It just seems like a good and right place to leave it.”

Arrington said increasing the awareness in Congress of the needs of rural Americans stands as his top achievement.

“I’m from a rural district, and I can tell you, raising the profile among urban and suburban members as to the unique challenges of rural America and the unique contributions of rural America — like food security and energy independence and how much the nation depends on these plow boys and cowboys in rural areas — that’s another thing I’m proud of,” he said.

Arrington said he knows that Trump and other Republicans will continue his quest to reduce the national debt.

“The president’s committed to it, he talks about it all the time. He’s actually doing something about it with very difficult decisions, not politically popular decisions. This is all about political will,” Arrington noted.

“Trump’s doing it. Mike Johnson is committed to it … And we have a growing number of fiscal hawks who are absolutely dogged on this issue.”

Arrington said he hopes to go out on an even higher note by passing a budget reconciliation bill that can be a companion to the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

“I don’t know where the Senate Republicans are. I don’t know where the president is and can’t speak for the White House. But the House is at the ready,” Arrington said. “It’s been our most consequential tool to support the president and the strength of the country, and I don’t see any reason we wouldn’t utilize it to its fullest extent.”

Arrington said his next goal is “quality time with my wife and kids and focusing on my leadership and service, not in the people’s house, but in my own house.”

“I’m thankful that God called me and gave me the grace to succeed and to achieve the things that we’ve achieved,” Arrington said.

“His grace looks like the members of Congress that I’ve been doing battle with, my budget hawks who I’ve been in the trenches with, my constituents who I run into in the grocery store, who want to pray with me right there in the aisle while I’m checking out. The grace of God looks like my wife being both mom and dad about two-thirds of the time, because I’m in Washington doing battle for the country.”

“Did I make my of mistakes? You bet. Did I learn along the way? You bet I did. But we left [the country] better than we found it, and it gives me great satisfaction.”

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