House GOP Bench Thins Yet Some Can’t Quit Skydiving

“The first text message Rep. Rudy Yakym (R., Ind.) sent after skydiving in January was to House Majority Whip Tom Emmer to tell him that he was OK—and that Republicans’ ranks hadn’t been further diminished,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said Yakym in an email: “Don’t worry, Tom. Your whip count is still safe.”

“It was half jest, half reassurance. Yakym is among a group of adrenaline junkies in the Republican conference embracing extreme sports in their free time—which might make for fun office chatter if the GOP didn’t have a razor-thin 217-212 majority in the House.”