First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
The House of Representatives adjourned on Friday morning and will not meet again until noon on Tuesday, November 17, closing its first week back in Washington after a seven-week recess with a long weekend ahead and major business still unfinished. The chamber convened at 10:00 a.m. for a brief pro forma session, with Rep. Michael K. Simpson of Idaho acting as Speaker pro tempore, and adjourned two minutes later, at 10:02 a.m., under a previous special order.
When members return on Tuesday, the House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for Morning-Hour debate, with legislative business beginning at 2:00 p.m., according to the Office of the Clerk.
The House returned to Washington on Monday, November 9, after a recess that began in mid-September and ran through the November 3 midterm elections. It was in session for four days this week, November 9 through 12, and the calendar published by Majority Leader Steve Scalise's office lists the next block of session days as November 17 through 20, followed by November 30 through December 3, December 8 through 11, and December 14 through 17, with the week of Thanksgiving off.
The week produced two notable votes. On Thursday, the House passed the Major Richard Star Act, which would let combat-wounded veterans keep both their full military retirement pay and their disability compensation, by 392 to 18, sending the bill to the Senate. On Tuesday, the chamber voted 211 to 204 to send Rep. Thomas Massie's eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the House Judiciary Committee rather than vote on them directly, effectively ending that effort in this Congress.
Much remains unfinished when the House returns. Federal agencies are funded only through December 11 under the current stopgap, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, and Congress must pass full-year appropriations or another stopgap by then to avoid a lapse. The annual defense authorization bill, which the House passed in July, remains stalled at a procedural vote in the Senate. Rep. Al Green of Texas announced on Thursday that he intends to force a House vote on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump as early as next week, and House Democrats are due to hold leadership elections on November 18 and 19 ahead of the new Congress, in which Democrats will hold the majority, being sworn in on January 3, 2027.