U.S. House closes until the midterms after Republican brings resolution to impeach Hegseth

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson talks to reporters outside of his office on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday. (Mariam Zuhaib/The Associated Press)Social SharingU.S. Speaker Mike Johnson closed up the House early, sending lawmakers home Wednesday to campaign for the midterm elections after what he claims is the most productive Congress in decades.

The decision came after just seven days in session following a summer break. It led to a scathing rebuke from a member of his own party, Rep. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, who brought a resolution the previous day to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth over the war in Iran.

"We're calling off Congress? And we're in the majority?" Massie railed from the House floor.

Johnson, of Louisiana, has repeatedly and abruptly cancelled House voting days to send lawmakers home rather than manage the disruptions from his own rebellious flank, particularly those legislative efforts that threatened to rebuke U.S. President Donald Trump.

By one tally, the House has cut 28 days this year, while adding four others, for a net loss of 24 days — about one-fourth of the total scheduled — for one of the shortest sessions for the chamber in modern times.

Johnson's decision led to criticism from another Republican, Rep. Ralph Norman, of South Carolina.

"The House has now cancelled at least 63 scheduled voting days this Congress, including nine days this month alone, and now we're leaving Washington until after the election," Norman wrote on X.

"The founders did not envision taking this much time off and still getting paid."

Massie seized control of the chamber for a blistering hour-long speech criticizing Johnson, the Republican majority and the work he said the speaker is refusing to conduct to lower prices for Americans and hold the Trump administration accountable.

"Why would we be cancelling days when the country is burning?" Massie said. "We should stay here for every day that's on the calendar and we should debate."

Johnson insisted "the House has done its job."

Rep. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, speaks with a reporter on Tuesday after introducing a resolution to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth over the war in Iran. (Evan Vucci/Reuters)The Republican speaker tallied the hundreds of bills passed by the House this session and, as lawmakers bolted for the exits, said they are on a 48-hour notice to return to Washington if needed.

On Wednesday, the House powered through a full agenda, passing bills large and small — including a sweeping bill to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, and another to name the American mastodon the national fossil mammal and the Tyrannosaurus Rex the national fossil dinosaur.

"We're walking out here with our heads high," he said.

Earlier in the day, he dismissed Massie's effort to impeach Hegseth as "a stunt."

"Secretary Hegseth has done an extraordinary job at the Department of War," Johnson said.

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Despite the enormous tools of the gavel — the speaker holds one of the most powerful positions in Washington, second in the line of succession to the president — Johnson has often been thwarted by his own conference in the past two years.

Voters will be assessing the situation in November as they decide whether to keep Trump's party in power, while Democrats work to dislodge Republicans from majority control of both the House and the Senate.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries assailed the Republicans for "have done nothing to make life more affordable for the American people."

The confrontation also provided a platform for Massie, the libertarian-leaning, go-his-own-way congressman who was instrumental in pushing for the Epstein Files Transparency Act while also helping lead efforts to end the conflict in Iran through a war powers resolution.

The moves were a thorn for Johnson and the Trump administration, and Massie lost his own primary bid for re-election after Trump mounted a costly campaign to kick him out of Congress, with Hegseth among those who hit the campaign trail to endorse the Kentuckian's opponent, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein.

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Massie on Wednesday devoted substantial time to criticizing Hegseth and the "stupid war" he said the U.S. should not be involved with in Iran.

Earlier this week, an inspector general report laid out the costs through four months of the war, which included damage and destruction to several U.S. military bases and diplomatic stations, as well as a drawdown of limited weapons systems and munitions.

Hegseth's role in sending the U.S. into the Iran wars without approval of Congress and directing the U.S.'s military strikes of alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean are among the actions Massie characterized as high crimes and misdemeanours in the articles of impeachment against the war secretary.