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US Politics · The United States and Iran

House votes 211-204 to block Hegseth impeachment as 11 Democrats miss the vote

Rep. Thomas Massie, the resolution's author, was the only Republican opposed, and Democratic leader Jeffries says it is "not the end of it."

The U.S. Capitol in Washington
The U.S. Capitol in Washington. Photo: Architect of the Capitol, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
24 news outlets reported this
Liberal9 outletsMissing Democrats and what happened behind the scenesCenter5 outletsRepublicans derail the bid, handing Trump a winConservative10 outletsDemocrats' no-shows sank it, and they vow retry
ABRAnews EditorialPublished 1 min read
Overview

The House voted 211 to 204 on Tuesday to send Rep. Thomas Massie's resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to a committee. The procedural step effectively blocks the measure, and Massie had warned that a referral would kill it. Massie, a Kentucky Republican who leaves in January, introduced eight articles of impeachment on Monday.

They accuse Hegseth of waging the Iran war illegally and without congressional approval, and they also raise Venezuela. Massie was the only Republican to vote against the referral. Eleven Democrats and seven Republicans did not vote.

Some of the Democrats blamed traffic from a police escort of a bus. At a veterans gathering in San Francisco, Pelosi was, her spokesman said, and she would have voted against the motion to refer. At a Pentagon press conference, Hegseth called the effort a "farce."

Trump wrote that it "miserably FAILED!" House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said, "This is not the end of it." Democrats are expected to hold the majority in both chambers next year.

Key figures
  • 211 to 204House vote to refer the resolution to a committeeHuffPost
  • 11 Democratsdid not voteHuffPost
  • seven Republicansmissed the voteHuffPost
  • 18 lawmakersdid not vote in total, by the Daily Beast's countThe Daily Beast
  • eight impeachment articlesin Massie's resolutionHuffPost

Three sides of the story

9Liberal5Center10Conservative

24 news outlets reported this

Tap a color or swipe sideways to switch sides.

Liberal9 outlets

Missing Democrats and what happened behind the scenes

HuffPost leads with Republicans using a procedural vote to derail the resolution, then turns to the 11 Democrats who skipped it, which it calls "an embarrassment" for Jeffries. It quotes Demand Progress director Sean Vitka and Rep. Jason Crow, and relays Rep. Melanie Stansbury's traffic explanation. The Daily Beast runs two pieces.

One, headlined "Stunning Reason Behind Hegseth Impeachment Fail Exposed," names the 11 absent Democrats and quotes Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove: "shame on folks who are not here." It adds that Pelosi's spokesman says she would have voted no on the motion to refer. The other relays CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who says Republican leaders and White House officials worked behind the scenes and that, citing White House sources, chief of staff Stephen Miller "reassured"

Hegseth. CBS News reports that every Republican except Massie voted to spare Hegseth.

Center5 outlets

Republicans derail the bid, handing Trump a win

Deutsche Welle leads with House Republicans voting on Tuesday to effectively block the impeachment bid, a result it describes as handing President Trump a victory after the defeat. It reports Hegseth dismissing the accusations as "slander" and "sabotage," and Massie's warning that a referral to Judiciary Committee would effectively kill his initiative. After the vote, Massie compared his Republican colleagues to Titanic passengers: "They know it's a sinking ship but committed to stay on board."

DW adds that Hegseth is expected to face renewed pushback, possibly a new impeachment effort, once Democrats take control of both the House and . The Hill centers on California Democratic Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, who spoke out Tuesday evening against the 11 of her party's lawmakers who skipped the vote, in a piece headlined with the word "Shameful." The piece points out that House Republicans effectively shelved the measure by 211-204, and that not one Democrat opposed advancing it.

Conservative10 outlets

Democrats' no-shows sank it, and they vow retry

The Blaze says the effort failed "miserably" thanks to 11 absentee Democrats, and says Democrats vow to try again next year. It lists the eight articles, quotes Jeffries calling himself a "hard yes" and later saying "This is not the end of it," and runs the no-shows' excuses, from traffic for Stansbury to a veterans event for Pelosi. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell tells Blaze News that Hegseth "will not back down."

The Daily Wire leads with Democratic voters "fuming" at the no-shows. It quotes Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security advisor under Obama, and commentators Cenk Uygur and Krystal Ball, and notes an Axios report of a traffic jam. It also quotes Hegseth calling the effort "a political spectacle" and "sabotage."

All sources: 41 articles from 24 outlets

Liberal (18)

Center (11)

Conservative (12)

The United States and Iran
  1. Democrats eye December funding deadline to try to end Iran war before January
  2. Iran's foreign minister warns US to accept its two-day proposal or face escalation
  3. House votes 211-204 to block Hegseth impeachment as 11 Democrats miss the voteThis story
  4. In a Veterans Day speech, Trump says the US has won the war with Iran
  5. Treasury Secretary Bessent moves to a military base after Iranian threats, sources say
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Impeachment

A formal accusation against a top official, up to the president, voted by the House of Representatives. Only the Senate can then remove the official, with two-thirds of the votes.

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Congress

The US parliament: the Senate and the House of Representatives. A bill becomes law when both pass it and the president signs it.

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Midterm elections

US elections halfway through a president's four-year term. The whole House, a third of the Senate and many governors are elected. In 2026 Election Day was November 3.

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House of Representatives

The lower chamber of Congress: 435 members elected every two years, with more seats for bigger states. It is the chamber that can impeach officials.

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Senate

The upper chamber of Congress: 100 senators, two per state, elected for six years. It confirms judges and ministers and approves treaties.

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