House Leaves Washington Early, Delaying Hegseth Impeachment Push and New Epstein Files Vote

Speaker Mike Johnson sent House members home one day earlier than planned for a pre-election district work period, postponing a politically sensitive impeachment effort and slowing a separate bipartisan push for additional Jeffrey Epstein records.

 

 

 

House Speaker Mike Johnson ended the chamber’s pre-election voting schedule Wednesday, canceling votes planned for Thursday and allowing members to return home to campaign ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The House Clerk formally designated September 16 through November 8 as a district work period, meaning lawmakers are not expected to resume regular floor business until after the elections.

Johnson said members had completed substantial legislative work and should return to their districts to make their case to voters, rejecting criticism that the chamber was abandoning unfinished responsibilities.

The timing immediately drew attention because Republican Representative Thomas Massie had introduced eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth only one day earlier on the House floor.

Massie introduced his proposal as a privileged resolution, a procedural status designed to force House consideration within two legislative days rather than allowing leadership to indefinitely leave it in committee.

With Thursday’s session canceled, that legislative clock effectively stopped. Massie accused leadership of ending the session specifically to avoid an impeachment vote before members returned home for campaigning.

Johnson disputed Massie’s interpretation, calling the impeachment effort a publicity stunt and saying the House could address it after lawmakers return rather than during the final pre-election session.

Massie’s eight articles accuse Hegseth of violating congressional war powers, continuing unauthorized military operations involving Iran and Yemen, and abusing his authority in several other military and personnel-related disputes.

The first three articles focus heavily on the 1973 War Powers Resolution, with Massie alleging that U.S. military operations against Iran continued without the congressional authorization he says federal law requires.

A Pentagon spokesperson rejected Massie’s criticism and defended Hegseth’s record, describing him as a transformative leader focused on military effectiveness, innovation and support for American service members.

The dispute follows months of congressional arguments over the Iran conflict, including a September 15 House vote directing the president to remove U.S. forces from unauthorized hostilities with Iran.

That war-powers resolution passed 220–204, with Democrats and seven Republicans supporting it, illustrating growing congressional disagreement over the administration’s military strategy and Congress’s constitutional role in authorizing hostilities.

The early departure also affected a separate effort by Massie and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna to force another House vote involving government records connected to Jeffrey Epstein.

Their proposed Epstein Files Transparency Act II is intended to strengthen enforcement of an earlier transparency law and allow certain parties to challenge the Justice Department over allegedly unreleased records.

Massie has been collecting signatures on a discharge petition, which requires 218 House members before supporters can bypass leadership and force the legislation toward a floor vote.

Massie said Tuesday evening that the petition had roughly 190 signatures, leaving supporters short of the required threshold and making the abbreviated House schedule an additional obstacle to gathering signatures.

The House nevertheless took other Epstein-related action before leaving, approving a contempt resolution involving billionaire Leon Black over his refusal to comply fully with congressional subpoenas in the Epstein investigation.

Lawmakers also completed other major business Wednesday, including approving a sweeping Russia sanctions measure by a 262–159 vote before beginning the extended district work period.

Democratic leaders and Massie criticized the shortened calendar, while Johnson defended the House’s productivity; their disagreement reflects competing interpretations of whether campaigning or additional legislative work should take priority.

The headline is therefore broadly accurate, but with an important distinction: the Hegseth impeachment effort was directly delayed, while the new Epstein legislation had not yet secured enough signatures to force a vote.