House Republicans blocked an attempt to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday, voting 211 to 204 to refer the resolution to committee — a procedural move that ends the immediate threat of removal but almost certainly only postpones it.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced eight articles of impeachment over the war in Iran and moved to force a floor vote this week. He was the only Republican to break with his party; every other Republican voted to shelve it. “We have pressing national security work to do including passing a defense budget,” said Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., in a statement after the vote.
The vote came days after midterm elections that cost Republicans control of both chambers. Vice President JD Vance has publicly blamed the party’s defeat on the war’s unpopularity. President Donald Trump posted afterward that the outcome amounted to an “exoneration of a great American patriot.”
Eleven Democrats missed the vote, including Rep. Marilyn Strickland of Washington, whose office said she was held up by a motorcade and arrived one minute late. That absence has become its own story, with recriminations inside the party over whether the vote was scheduled to fail.
Democrats take control of the House and Senate in January. Tuesday’s vote does not settle the question of Hegseth’s tenure; it hands it to a Congress that will soon be able to reopen it.
Source: The Seattle Times, Nov. 10, 2026; The Guardian live coverage, Nov. 10, 2026. Photo: Noclip, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
