At the time, the four-term House member said that the authors of the US Constitution had not intended elective office to be for a lifetime. But his announcement still sparked interest given his relatively young age of 39 and his rising profile on Capitol Hill.

According to Politico, Gallagher’s allies have said that he had become disenchanted with House politics after the October ouster of Kevin McCarthy as House speaker. McCarthy, a Californian Republican and Gallagher ally, chose him to lead the bipartisan House select committee on China when it was created at the beginning of the congressional session in January 2023.

As a select committee, Gallagher’s body does not have the authority to report legislation to the House floor, although it has subpoena power. Its hearings have also featured high-profile sitting and former government officials including Matt Pottinger, who was a deputy national security adviser and China-policy architect during Donald Trump’s administration.

US House vote on TikTok ban suggests broader prism than just pro- or anti-China

In that report, the committee called for China to be moved from its current “column 1” tariff classification. That would eliminate the preferential trade status allowing US importers to pay regular duties on Chinese goods not subject to the punitive tariffs that have been in place since 2018.

Gallagher’s announcement Friday came after Georgia Republican Majorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to oust the current House speaker, Mike Johnson.

The congressman’s future plans are remain unclear.

He told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he intends to go into the private sector and that he will continue his mission to “prevent world war three”. That will include dedicating himself to “restoring conventional deterrence in order to prevent a war with China”, he said.

Gallagher’s premature departure puts the House committee on China’s effectiveness in doubt for the rest of the congressional term, which ends on January 3. Gallagher was known for being particularly effective at working across the aisle.

The House’s speedy passage of the TikTok bill, which would force the Beijing-based owner of TikTok, ByteDance, to divest the short-video app, in one of the most highly partisan congressional sessions, serves as an example of his effectiveness. The bill passed just eight days after Gallagher introduced it.

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Since its establishment, the House committee – which may not be reauthorised come 2025 – has supported legislation and written numerous letters to target China’s influence in the US, putting pressure on President Joe Biden’s administration to take a harsher stance on the country on multiple fronts.

Wisconsin law says that Gallagher’s seat will stay empty for the rest of his term. But the congressman announced that his office will continue to operate and provide constituent services until next January. A departure before April 9 would have triggered a special election.

“Four terms serving Northeast Wisconsin in Congress has been the honour of a lifetime and strengthened my conviction that America is the greatest country in the history of the world”, Gallagher said Friday.

“I will forever be proud of the work I did on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, chairing the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and chairing the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.”