The lawmakers who lost the midterm elections are back in Washington today, and for five more weeks they still run Congress. What they do in that time will decide whether the federal government shuts down days before Christmas, and whether the secretary of defense faces an impeachment vote in the House.
The House returns after a seven week recess and the Senate after more than a month away. Democrats won control of both chambers on November 3, but the new Congress is not sworn in until January 3, 2027. Until then, the Republican led 119th Congress holds the gavels, and the outgoing majority keeps the full power to pass laws and confirm nominees.
The most urgent deadline is money. The government is running on a stopgap measure that expires on December 11, and not one of the regular spending bills for the 2027 fiscal year has been signed into law. If Congress passes nothing by December 11, parts of the federal government shut down.
The likeliest outcome, according to congressional experts cited by USA Today, is another short term extension that keeps the government open into early 2027 and leaves the final spending fights to the incoming Democratic majority and President Donald Trump. The Wall Street Journal reports that Republicans are weighing how much of their remaining agenda they can still move, from judicial confirmations to energy permitting deals, against simply finishing the must pass bills and going home.
The sharpest fight is over Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense. Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who is leaving Congress, is expected to reintroduce a privileged resolution carrying eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth. A privileged resolution forces a vote in the House, and Massie has said the only way he drops it is if Hegseth resigns or the president fires him.
Democratic leaders are backing the move. Hakeem Jeffries, who is in line to become speaker in January, said last week that Pete Hegseth has got to go and that he supports the articles. Trump has said he intends to keep Hegseth, and Hegseth said in a video posted on Thursday that he will not back down. Even if the House voted to impeach, removing Hegseth would take a two thirds vote in the Senate. Democrats are separately preparing the oversight agenda they plan to open in January.
The list does not end there. Congress still has not passed its annual defense policy bill, and farm and highway programs face deadlines in mid December. Republicans hold leadership elections in both chambers on Tuesday, and Speaker Mike Johnson has said he will not run to lead his party in the minority. More than 109 incoming House freshmen, the largest class since 1933 according to ABC News, arrive over the next two weeks for orientation.
The session runs about five weeks, with a break for Thanksgiving and fewer than 25 working days before the new Congress takes over. Both parties know the clock is the one opponent neither can beat.
Transparency note: This explainer is based on reporting by ABC News, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal and on the published schedules of the House and Senate. None of the votes described here had taken place when it was published.
