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The United States Congress resumes its activity this Monday following the mid-term election recess, doing so under the shadow of a potential impeachment of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, hovering over the Capitol, in what will be a test of Republican support for the president.
Although this Congress is known as a "lame duck" session because it has barely two months of activity left before new lawmakers are sworn in on January 3, it still has some important tasks ahead, such as passing a budget before December 11 or the potential impeachment of Hegseth.
After the blue wave on November 3, which boosted Democrats to their biggest electoral gain since Watergate in 1974, Republicans have begun to interpret the causes of the defeat, and many of them point to the war in Iran.
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Vice President JD Vance himself stated that the reason they lost "is the war" in a message posted on X the day after the election, and his statement was followed by lawmakers and other members of the party who began placing Hegseth in their crosshairs.
Although, in reality, the Secretary of Defense was already targeted before the elections because Republican Representative Thomas Massie presented eight articles of impeachment in mid-September to push for his removal, which were put on hold due to the congressional break for the elections but could now be reactivated.
An unauthorized war and military dismissals
In fact, Massie, who will not be part of the next House of Representatives but is still in the current one, has already announced this week that the only thing Hegseth can do to stop the impeachment process is to resign voluntarily.
The Republican congressman's initiative must pass a vote in the House of Representatives, and if it succeeds, Hegseth would be tried in the Senate.
The list of grievances driving the potential impeachment is based on "having initiated the war with Iran without the authorization of Congress and without having presented to the Legislature an imminent threat that would justify military intervention," but the accusation also includes "illegal lethal attacks against drug trafficking suspects" and the "capture of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores without legal authorization."
Hegseth's waning support is not only due to his foreign policy decisions, but also his management at the head of the Pentagon, especially the dismissals of high-ranking military officials, which have generated criticism within the Army and among Republicans.
For the moment, Trump has publicly staged his support for the Secretary of Defense and has assured that he has his trust, as he pointed out this Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes" program, although he also acknowledged this same week that he is receiving calls from people unhappy with the former Fox News host.
Budget and government shutdown
The potential impeachment of Hegseth will not be the only issue to mark these final sessions in the Capitol, which still has a Republican majority, as there are several important pending laws.
Among them is the approval of new budget allocations, as current federal funding expires on December 11 (and could cause a government shutdown if it does not receive the green light in time), the annual defense bill, and more spending proposals for the war in Iran.
With this scenario in Congress, and before the Democratic majority takes office in January, both the potential impeachment and the voting on pending bills will become tests to measure Republican support for Trump following the electoral defeat.
[Publicidad]