Less than seven weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has scrapped the final scheduled voting day of the current congressional term, triggering fierce backlash from lawmakers across party lines who accuse the Republican leadership of dodging contentious votes on impeachment and the Trump administration’s war policy in Iran.
Johnson’s decision to cut the session short comes on the heels of two high-profile challenges to the White House’s agenda: Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over his handling of the seven-month-long U.S. war in Iran, and seven House Republicans joined all 213 Democrats to approve a War Powers Resolution that would force President Donald Trump to end military hostilities in Iran. The adjournment also follows a separate move by top House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrat Gregory Meeks, who placed a hold on a proposed $2.8 billion sale of 40,000 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, citing concerns over potential violations of U.S. and international law in densely populated areas of Gaza and Lebanon.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Johnson framed the early adjournment as an opportunity for all 435 House members, who face re-election every two years, to return to their home districts and campaign on the legislative record of the Republican-led chamber. “We’re going to modify the House schedule by a day, and let me explain to you why the House has done its work… This House has been the second most productive in terms of legislation in the history of the institution,” Johnson said. “We passed over 900 pieces of legislation. Right now, about 700 of those bills are sitting in the Senate, awaiting action.” He added that he was confident Republican lawmakers would be able to explain their policy work to voters back home.
But critics quickly pushed back on the speaker’s justification, noting that the House has already canceled at least 23 voting days in 2026 alone, a figure that doubles when counting all canceled session days across the full congressional term that began in January 2025. Outgoing South Carolina Republican Congressman Ralph Norman called the move “unacceptable” in a post on X, writing, “The Founders did not envision taking this much time off and still getting paid. If Members of Congress want to go home and campaign instead of doing the job taxpayers sent us here to do, then their campaigns ought to be paying them, NOT the American taxpayer. We still have work to do.”
New Mexico Democratic Representative Melanie Stansbury put forward a more pointed explanation for the early adjournment, arguing Republican leadership is trying to avoid votes that could split the party ahead of the midterms. “They are sending us home even earlier than expected. And there’s really only one explanation for this, and that is that Thomas Massie … filed articles of impeachment against the Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth,” she said in a widely shared online video. “And last night we took a vote on a war powers resolution that passed to end the illegal war in Iran, and we had multiple Republicans join us because they understand the writing is on the wall.”
Massie, who is leaving Congress in January after losing his Republican primary election, confirmed that the impeachment vote against Hegseth had been scheduled for Thursday, the day that was ultimately canceled. He wrote on X, “And there it is. Just as I predicted. They’re canceling Congress tomorrow to avoid the vote on IMPEACHING @SecWar. It will also make it harder for us to reach 218 signatures on the Epstein Discharge Petition before the election. We were at 190+ signatures last night.” That petition seeks to force the Department of Justice to release three million additional pages of documents related to deceased child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who is alleged to have had close ties to members of Trump’s inner circle. No current administration official has been formally accused of any misconduct connected to Epstein.
Massie’s impeachment articles accuse Hegseth, a former Fox News host who has drawn controversy for his hawkish and unorthodox approach to the Defense Department, of “high crimes and misdemeanors” stemming from his leadership of the Iran war. In a nearly hour-long floor speech Wednesday, Massie argued that Hegseth was personally culpable for the bombing of Iranian schoolchildren on the first day of the war, which began in February after a year of planning. “I can understand in the heat of war, in the fog of war, [but] in the first day of a war that you’ve been planning for a year, you bomb a school? I’m not saying they did it on purpose. I’m saying Peter Hegseth himself personally is culpable for that because he doesn’t care about rules of engagement. He has deprecated the rules of engagement. He has degraded the ability to discriminate between civilian targets and valid military targets. He needs to be impeached for that.”
While the impeachment effort was always a long shot in the Republican-controlled House, its backers aimed to force members of Trump’s party to go on the record with their positions on Hegseth’s conduct. When reached for comment, the White House directed inquiries to Attorney General Todd Blanche, who defended Hegseth Tuesday, saying, “Secretary Hegseth is doing a phenomenal job. The Secretary of War doesn’t just go off and do things, so he follows the law.”
Along with the impeachment and war powers votes, the early adjournment comes as the Trump administration faces growing bipartisan backlash over its military and foreign policy in the Middle East. The War Powers Resolution approved Tuesday marked the fifth congressional attempt to end the Iran war, but it was the first time a majority of the House backed the measure. The seven Republican defection signals growing unease within the president’s own party over the duration and financial cost of the war, which has pushed domestic gas prices higher – a key issue for voters ahead of the midterms. To date, the conflict has killed more than 3,500 Iranians and 18 Americans. While the White House has claimed hostilities ended with an April 2026 ceasefire, U.S. forces have continued carrying out large-scale bombing raids across southern Iran, including a deadly strike on a wedding late last month.
The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) issued a statement Wednesday calling on lawmakers to go beyond non-binding resolutions and use all congressional authority to end the unauthorized war. “After months of war and mounting costs, Congress cannot continue to rely on resolutions alone,” NIAC Policy Director Ryan Costello said. “The question now is whether Congress will use the full scope of its authority to stop an unauthorized war before more lives are lost and more resources are spent. We urge them to match their words with decisive action, in both Congress and the courts.”
On the Israel weapons sale front, Meeks announced Wednesday he would place a legislative hold on the proposed bomb transfer, which was first revealed by conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson Tuesday. Meeks emphasized his continued commitment to Israel’s security, but said the massive sale of one of the U.S. arsenal’s most destructive munitions raised serious concerns about their use in crowded civilian areas. “I remain firmly committed to Israel’s security and its ability to defend itself against serious regional threats. But the Trump administration’s proposed sale … raises grave, unresolved concerns about how these munitions could be used in densely populated areas of Gaza and Lebanon,” Meeks said in a statement. “I will not clear this sale at this time. This decision does not diminish Congressional support for Israel’s legitimate defense needs; it reflects Congress’s responsibility to ensure that US-funded weapons are used lawfully, responsibly, and with meaningful safeguards for human life.”
While the hold is only a temporary procedural measure, it signals a clear shift from congressional Democrats ahead of the midterms, as progressive candidates who have centered their campaigns on fierce criticism of Israeli tactics have won key primary races. Polling shows the Iran war is becoming increasingly unpopular among voters of all parties, as economic costs trickle down to working American households. Analysts widely expect Democrats to take control of the House from Republicans when the new congressional term begins in January, with the midterm results widely seen as a referendum on Trump’s first-term policy agenda.