Funding deadline, Senate pressure to confirm judicial nominees and party leadership contests
Congress returned Monday for a six-week lame-duck session after Democrats won both chambers in the midterm elections, with Republican majorities set to give way Jan. 3, 2027. Retiring lawmakers began clearing out as newly elected lawmakers arrived for freshman orientation. The Associated Press described President Donald Trump as continuing his political threats after the Republican losses.
One of the first orders of business is expected to be a resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his leadership at the Pentagon. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie pushed the resolution forward over objections from House GOP leadership as momentum grew to hold Hegseth accountable for the Iran war, which many Republicans blame for the party’s midterm losses.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried in September to prevent a Hegseth impeachment vote and abruptly halted proceedings by sending lawmakers home early. It is unclear whether Johnson, who remains close to Trump, can slow the impeachment drive unless he decides to adjourn the House again.
President Donald Trump defended Hegseth to reporters Sunday night before flying back to Washington after spending the weekend at his Florida home. “He’s guilty of two things, basically winning two wars,” Trump said. “I believe we saved the Middle East and Israel combined. And it’s awfully hard to say let’s impeach somebody who did that.”
Democrats are expected to support the resolution widely, and a number of Republicans have signaled they could join them. “I’m a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday on ABC. Jeffries said it was time for Hegseth to go and that the secretary “has abused his power, undermined our national security and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran.”
The lame-duck agenda gives Republicans a compressed window for government funding and other priorities, though their earlier hope of a full legislative run now appears doubtful. Congress must fund the government by mid-December or risk another federal shutdown if the money lapses. Republicans also want to pass the annual defense bill, which sets policy for the Pentagon, delivers troop pay raises and has been approved by Congress essentially every year since World War II. This year’s package is tangled over progressive pressure to cut money for the Iran war and military aid to Israel over the war on Gaza.
The Senate hopes to launch votes Monday on legislation to speed permitting reviews for new energy infrastructure projects, after Trump pushed senators in a Sunday social media post to act. There is also pressure on the Senate to swiftly confirm Trump’s judicial nominees before Republicans lose control of the chamber in January.
Republicans in both the House and Senate plan to hold leadership elections this week in closed-door meetings. The Associated Press said the gatherings “could end up being blame-casting sessions about what went wrong in the elections.” After House Speaker Mike Johnson decided to step aside, the House Republican leadership contest centers on the No. 2 Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.
The Associated Press described Jordan as “the brawling former wrestling coach allied with the hard-right conservatives.” Scalise and Jordan confronted each other when they tried to become House speaker three years ago, but neither won enough support from the Republican rank and file, leading to Johnson’s rise. With House Republican numbers now shrunken, lawmakers could seek wholesale change in leadership.
In the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune is expected to retain his job as Republican leader, though the party will be in the minority after Democrats flipped Republican-held seats, including wins in Texas and Kansas.
Democrats are expected to elect their leaders later this month. At least two Democrats — Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan and Sen.-elect Adam Hamilton of Kansas — have declined to publicly support Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s bid for majority leader, but no challenger has emerged. Hamilton said Sunday on CNN that the party needed a leader who would bring members together and offer fresh ideas.
Hakeem Jeffries, who is on track to make history as the nation’s first Black speaker of the House, faces skepticism from voices in the party’s left wing. At a Capitol press conference Sunday, Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, was flanked by newly elected lawmakers, including a handful from the Democratic Socialists of America. “Every single member here is going to have their individual vote,” Casar said. “What we talked about at orientation today was not about any individual person, but about policy,” Casar said. “How we set a progressive path forward.”
Newly elected lawmakers arrived on Capitol Hill over the weekend. The Associated Press reported that dozens of Democrats arrived with families and suitcases for freshman orientation and appeared emboldened by the party’s sweep of power, while Republicans arriving spoke soberly about the GOP’s challenges ahead. “This country sent a clear message from coast to coast, and that message is they’ve had enough of what’s gone on,” said Rep.-elect Daniel Biss, D-Ill. “They’ve had enough of Donald Trump. They’ve had enough of MAGA. And critically, they are ready to transform who holds power, and what they do with it.”
Republican Rep.-elect Chris Stigall of Missouri said it’s clear that voters sent a loud message, “and I hope, as a new member, I can be on the ground level of figuring out how we can reconnect.” For starters, he said, the GOP needs to understand that the economy is not where it needs to be. “Six-dollar diesel, I will tell you, for the farmers in my district, that is a tough pill to swallow.”
President Donald Trump has tapped top aide Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff. The Associated Press described Miller as “the hard-right architect of much of the White House’s domestic policy agenda.” The outlet said, “Miller takes the helm Monday in what is expected to be the start of a more direct confrontation with the Congress.” Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.