The House of Representatives shut its doors a day early on Wednesday, September 16, sending lawmakers home to campaign for the November midterm elections and, in the process, sidestepping a vote that would have forced Republicans to go on the record about impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Republican leaders canceled what was supposed to be the last legislative day before the pre-election recess. The chamber is now scheduled to return on November 9, after voters have gone to the polls. Members remain on 48-hour notice in case they need to be called back.
A privileged resolution, left hanging
The vote that slipped off the calendar was triggered by Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican who introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth on Tuesday. Because Massie filed the measure as a privileged resolution, House rules require leadership to bring it to the floor within two legislative days. A vote had been expected on Thursday. With no legislative days left before November, that clock stops.
The 34-page resolution lays out eight articles accusing Hegseth of "high crimes and misdemeanors." Among the charges, according to Stars and Stripes and the Associated Press:
- waging war against Iran without authorization from Congress;
- ordering military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and unlawful strikes in Yemen;
- disregarding laws meant to limit civilian casualties;
- the operation that seized former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro;
- moving to rename the Defense Department the "Department of War" without Congress;
- trying to silence Sen. Mark Kelly after he spoke to troops about their legal rights.
Democrats had introduced their own impeachment resolutions against Hegseth in April.
Johnson: "publicity stunt"
Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed Massie's effort as a "publicity stunt" and defended the early exit, calling this "the most productive and successful and aggressive Congress" in decades. A Pentagon spokesperson described Hegseth as a "transformative leader" with the full backing of the department.
Massie answered with an hourlong floor speech against the recess. "Why would we be canceling days when the country is burning?" he asked. The Kentucky Republican is a lame duck: he lost his primary this year to Ed Gallrein after both President Trump and Hegseth campaigned against him.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the majority a "do-nothing" Republican Congress that had failed to lower grocery prices or end the conflicts in the Middle East.
What else stalls — and what passed
By the AP's count, the House has cut 28 legislative days from its calendar this year while adding four, a net loss of 24 days, or roughly a quarter of the schedule. The early departure also leaves pending a bipartisan push to force the release of files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and a war powers resolution on the Iran conflict.
Before leaving on Wednesday, the House approved sweeping new sanctions legislation against Russia over the war in Ukraine, along with two bills naming the American mastodon the national fossil mammal and Tyrannosaurus rex the national fossil dinosaur.
Reporting from Stars and Stripes and the Associated Press.
