After the Republicans took control of the House in 1995, Traficant tended to vote more often with the Republicans than with his own party.
On abortion, Traficant voted the pro-life position of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) 95% of the time in the 105th Congress, and 100% of the time in the 106th and 107th Congresses.
After he voted for Republican Dennis Hastert for Speaker of the House in 2001, the Democrats stripped him of his seniority and refused to give him a committee assignment.
Because the Republicans did not assign him to any committee (gotta love those Republicans), Traficant became the first member of the House of Representatives in over a century without any committee assignment who was not in a leadership position.