House Adjourns Early as Massie Presses Hegseth Impeachment, Slams GOP Leadership

Speaker Mike Johnson has adjourned the House early, sending members home to campaign for the midterm elections. He described the two-year session as the most productive and aggressive Congress in decades, placing it among the top five in history.

The move drew a sharp rebuke from Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who took control of the chamber for an hourlong speech criticizing Johnson, the GOP majority and what he called unfinished work. Massie's resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the war in Iran, along with a bipartisan effort to force the release of more files in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, were left without votes.

"We're calling off Congress? And we're in the majority?" Massie said from the floor. "I'm trying to get justice for the Epstein survivors. I'm trying to stop a war."

Massie, a libertarian-leaning congressman who lost his primary after President Donald Trump campaigned against him, has appeared emboldened in his final days. He criticized Hegseth's leadership, mocking the secretary's effort to rename the Defense Department as the Department of War without consulting Congress. "Hell, you can't even rename a post office without us," he said.

The articles of impeachment against Hegseth cite his role in sending the U.S. into the Iran war without congressional approval and directing military strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean, which Massie characterized as high crimes and misdemeanors.

Johnson dismissed the impeachment effort as "a stunt," saying Hegseth has done an extraordinary job at the Department of War.

The session has been marked by Johnson's struggles to manage a bare majority and a rebellious flank. By one tally, the House has cut 28 days this year while adding four, a net loss of about one-fourth of scheduled days. Still, Johnson has passed major legislation, most notably the "Big Beautiful Bill" of tax breaks and social service cuts signed by Trump last summer. On Wednesday, the House also passed bills including one naming the American mastodon the national fossil mammal and the Tyrannosaurus Rex the national fossil dinosaur.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries assailed the "do-nothing" Republican majority, saying Democrats will perform better. "Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans promised to bring down grocery prices on Day One. They promised to stop endless wars in the Middle East," Jeffries said outside the Capitol. "But Republicans have done nothing to make life more affordable for the American people." He said Democrats' message is simple: "We hear you. We see you … And we are committed to making life better for you."

Voters will decide in November whether to keep Trump's party in power, with Democrats working to dislodge Republicans from majority control of both the House and the Senate.