He has cancer, which he know when he ran for the Ranking Member slot, but now he's citing as a reason to step down.
I've said it once, and I will say it over and over and over: The Democrats slavish allegiance to seniority in committee chairs and committee leadership slots is doing real damage to the party. By blocking younger membes from achieving leadership positions, the party stagnates.
The Republicans give their chairs and ranking members a combined 6 years, with a rare waiver for 2 more years. Members who term limit out of committee leadership positions tend to retire rather than become back benchers. That allows younger local politicians to move up to the federal level. Rising elected members can develop new fundraising and state wide profiles. Changes in leadership staff force turn over on K street.
John Conyers was ranking member or chair of Judiciary from 1995 through 2017. During that period of time, the GOP had FIVE different leaders.