Stymied on legislation and far from the ideological base of power in the Republican-led House, Representative Becca Balint of Vermont and her fellow liberal freshmen look to one another for support.
Back to legislative work after the Republican speaker saga that stalled business for nearly a month, lawmakers will begin with a raft of disciplinary actions.
The former Trump adviser has helped create the spectacle of G.O.P. dysfunction, using it to build his own following and those of the right-wing House rebels who took down Kevin McCarthy.
Little more than three days before a government shutdown, the Republican-led House spent the day adding hard-right proposals to a series of doomed spending bills.