When Will the House Vote on Impeaching Pete Hegseth?
No vote is scheduled yet — but the clock is already running. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said he would renew his impeachment effort on the House floor on Monday afternoon, and once he gives formal notice of the privileged resolution, House leaders have two legislative days to bring it up. A vote could come as early as Monday night, and by midweek at the latest on this notice. Before the House ever votes on impeachment itself, leaders can move to table the resolution — a motion that is not debatable — or send it to committee, and only if the resolution survives those moves does the full House vote on the articles.
The plain reality is that this machinery has already failed once. Massie first read his resolution on the House floor on September 15. The House never voted on it: Speaker Mike Johnson cancelled the last scheduled voting day before the midterms, members went home, and Massie's September notice expired during pro forma sessions. A privileged resolution is powerful on paper, but only when the House is actually sitting — and this time the House is sitting, in a lame-duck session, with the man forcing the vote leaving Congress in January.
Massie claims the politics have turned. "I think the odds went up because of the election," he told The Washington Sun on Monday. "There might be some members of Congress who want to put some daylight between themselves and the administration and this war, and this might be the most practical way." His charge, stated in his announcement, is that "by engaging in hostilities in Iran for more than 90 days without congressional authorization, Secretary Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable."
"The ball is in their court once I give notice, so they have two legislative days. They could deal with it tonight, tomorrow or the next day."
The principle underneath the timetable is plain. The Constitution gives Congress — not the defence secretary — the decision on war, and the War Powers Resolution of 1973 sets the limit Massie says was crossed. An impeachment article that is never allowed to reach a vote does not enforce that limit; it files it away. Either the House votes on whether waging this war without authorisation was impeachable, or the limit means whatever a president's Pentagon says it means.
The consequence, though, is narrower than the fight suggests. Impeachment takes only a simple majority in the House, but removing a Cabinet secretary takes two-thirds of the Senate after a trial — and Congress has never removed a Cabinet officer that way in its history. This week's vote, if it comes, will be taken by the outgoing Republican House, weeks before the Democrats who won both chambers on November 3 are sworn in on January 3. Which leaves the question this week really asks: if a Republican House will not vote on these articles now, while its own party still holds the gavel, what changes in January when the other party holds it — and the subpoenas that come with it?
The details that decide the week are these. The resolution runs to 34 pages and eight articles, "99.99% the same" as September's, in Massie's words, with minor corrections. Three of the eight accuse Hegseth of violating the War Powers Resolution over the Iran war, which the United States and Israel launched on February 28. The others cite civilian casualties, strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean, retaliation against Sen. Mark Kelly, the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and operations in Yemen. Massie has offered exactly one way out, the condition he set last week: "There is one contingency in which I won't reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns." He calls his own effort "a much gentler version of what's coming when the Democrats assume control of the House and Senate next year."
On the other side of the count, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday: "I'm a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution. Pete Hegseth has got to go." Democrats discuss the resolution at their caucus on Tuesday. CNN reported that multiple Republican sources expect the measure to pass, and Axios reported that Republican leaders are bracing for enough defections from their own ranks to carry it. Rep. French Hill, the Financial Services Committee chairman, did not rule out supporting it on CBS's "Face the Nation," saying he wants to hear the debate, and Oversight chairman James Comer raised concerns on Friday about the Pentagon's handling of the war. No count has been published.
Hegseth is answering in person. Asked about the resolution on Monday, he said, "We're not worried about that," and he will hold a news conference on Tuesday morning "on that very topic" — his first press conference in more than 180 days. President Trump defended him on Sunday night, saying the defence secretary is guilty of "basically winning two wars." The House has voted to impeach only two Cabinet members in American history, and the Senate agreed on neither. Hegseth, in a video recorded outside the Pentagon on Thursday, gave the answer he is standing on: "Impeachment didn't work with President Trump. It won't work with me."