This week: Lame duck kicks off with Hegesth impeachment effort

Niels Lesniewski, CQ-Roll Call on Nov 9, 2026

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WASHINGTON — The lame-duck session of Congress kicks off this week as the House is expected to consider a resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth while the Senate seeks to advance a bipartisan deal on permitting reform.

Last week’s midterm elections saw Democrats claim sizable majorities in both the House and Senate in the new Congress, and among the immediate questions is whether the demoralized GOP will face attendance woes.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the expected next speaker of the House, said Sunday that he would support the Hegseth impeachment.

“I’m a hard ‘yes’ on the Hegseth resolution,” Jeffries said on ABC’s “This Week.” “The so-called secretary of Defense has abused his power, undermined our national security and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran, which has skyrocketed prices on the American people and made the country less safe. Pete Hegseth has got to go.”

Departing Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., told CQ Roll Call in late October that the Hegseth impeachment resolution would come up in the first week of the post-election lame duck session.

It’s also orientation week on Capitol Hill for new members of Congress. House orientation got underway Sunday.

The Senate, meanwhile, looks to take up a bipartisan permitting bill that has the backing of President Donald Trump.

“This Landmark Permitting Reform Legislation will codify our America First Energy Agenda, and ensure that we can build Pipelines, Mines, and Power Plants faster than ever before, lowering Energy Costs for American Families, and creating High Paying American Jobs,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Senate negotiators over the weekend released text of an amendment seeking to address remaining concerns.

“I’m grateful for the input throughout this process from Senate and House colleagues, environmental and labor organizations, and Tribal leaders. Our manager’s amendment improves [the bill] and addresses the thoughtful feedback we have received,” Senate Environment and Public Works ranking Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said in a statement. “Now it’s time to pass this bill so we can lower costs, juice the clean energy economy, build big things again in America, reduce pollution, and create tons of new well-paying union jobs.”

Beyond the permitting bill, the Senate Republican majority may seek to use its remaining time trying to confirm more of Trump’s nominations before the control of the floor agenda passes to the Democrats.

“We’ve got the farm bill, the NDAA, and we have that third reconciliation bill that we need to get across the finish line, and there are so many things that we need to get done and buttoned up,” including nominations, departing Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said in a weekend Fox News interview. Blackburn, one of the Republicans who had success at the ballot box, is now governor-elect of Tennessee. But it’s an open question how long lawmakers will want to stick around.

There’s also the matter of an imminent fight over funding the government and laying the groundwork for the new Congress. Republican leadership elections are scheduled for Tuesday, while Democratic leadership elections are expected in December. Democratic senators-elect are due on Capitol Hill Monday and Tuesday, according to the office of Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. Schumer is widely expected to be the majority leader in 2027.

There have been some calls for Senate Republicans to delay their elections, though current Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota has been widely expected to remain as the Republican leader.

“One of the things I learned in business and the Army is that after a failure, you have to start with honesty, transparency, and accountability,” Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., said in a Sunday night statement. “As I’ve shared with Leader Thune, I don’t believe we should move to leadership elections until we have digested and debated the lessons of the midterms and how to move forward.”

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has also been circulating a letter calling for a delay, and he has argued the election should not be held, in part, because the makeup of the Senate Republican Conference is not yet final. Senate races are still not called in Alaska and Mississippi.

Absent this week will be Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., who recently had a stroke.

“The doctors are very encouraged by the progress I’ve made so far. In order to take my recovery seriously and get back to work on the quickest timeline possible, I will be spending several weeks at a rehabilitation center after being discharged from the hospital today,” Murphy said in a Friday statement.