Congress returns for lame-duck sprint after bruising midterm losses for GOP

Washington — Lawmakers are returning to Capitol Hill on Monday for the first time since the midterm elections, which delivered a slew of Democratic victories that will dramatically reshape the balance of power in Washington in the new year. 

Now, with the sun setting on their majorities, Republicans are aiming to make the most of their lame-duck period. But first, they'll select their new leaders — and work to prevent a possible government shutdown. 

Leadership elections

House and Senate Republicans are set to hold their leadership elections on Tuesday, while House Democrats will hold theirs the following week, and Senate Democrats will elect their leaders in early December. 

On the House side, Speaker Mike Johnson is stepping aside after the GOP's extensive losses last week, leaving Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. Jim Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, to jockey for minority leader. Rep. August Pfluger is challenging Majority Whip Tom Emmer for the position of minority whip. Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain has two opponents — Reps. Erin Houchin and Greg Steube. 

Democrats up for a handful of leadership positions are running unopposed. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is poised to become speaker, with House Whip Katherine Clark as majority leader and Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar as whip. Rep. Joe Neguse is set to become assistant speaker and Rep. Ted Lieu, the current Democratic Caucus vice chair, chair of the Democratic Caucus.

In the upper chamber, Senate Republicans are scheduled to hold leadership elections Tuesday morning. But at least a handful of Senate GOP members, led by Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, want to delay their elections to recalibrate after last week's electoral bloodbath for the party.

In a letter to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who chairs the Senate Republican Conference, the Wisconsin Republican argued that "we need to have serious discussions within our conference" about 2028, after the party's "stunning defeat." 

"Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice," the senator wrote in the letter seeking to compel a conference meeting before moving forward with the leadership elections. 

Johnson said the letter would be signed by at least five of his colleagues, per Senate rules. Sens. John Kennedy of Louisiana, Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida and Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania were among those expressing support for the effort.

In an interview with "The Takeout with Major Garrett" on Friday, Johnson said the letter was not "hostile" to Senate Majority Leader John Thune or other leaders. No senator has announced a challenge to Thune, and his conference widely expects him to be elected to a second term as leader. But the Wisconsin Republican argued that there's "no reason to rush," noting that the GOP doesn't yet know the size of its conference with the outcome of two races — Mississippi and Alaska — still unresolved. 

"There's a lot of reason for robust discussion and reflection about what went wrong," he said.  

As for Senate Democrats, leadership elections are slated for early next month. And with Democrats' overperformance of expectations in the midterms, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has appeared to improve his standing, despite facing intense criticism over the last two years for his leadership that originated with a fight over funding the government.

Government funding

After Congress approved a stopgap measure to keep the government funded earlier this year, funding is set to run out on Dec. 11, teeing up a familiar fight on Capitol Hill. 

Lawmakers now have a condensed timeline to negotiate and pass the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund the federal government, or opt to kick the can down the road further. 

The initial deadline to fund the government was Sept. 30, but Congress approved a short-term extension in a move that avoided a messy funding fight ahead of the midterm elections. 

In an interview with CBS News in late October, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said House and Senate negotiators "will start to do business" after the election, acknowledging that Democrats would have more leverage after the midterms if they won the majority. 

Asked about the points of agreement and disagreement between Democrats and Republicans, DeLauro said, "we're going to find out when we sit down and talk about it." 

"What I am going to work to do is to pass all 12 appropriations bills, if we can," she said. "No one wants a continuing resolution that goes through next year." 

"As it unfolds, we will see what we have to do and where we go," she said. 

The war in Iran could take center stage in the funding fight, as some Democrats advocate for using their leverage to block funds for the unpopular conflict. But doing so could risk a shutdown that could spill into the new Congress, and detract from other priorities. Congress also faces an end-of-year deadline to pass its annual defense policy bill, which could also be complicated by opposition to the Iran war and Pentagon leadership that's been under scrutiny after the GOP's significant losses. 

Hegseth impeachment

Anger toward Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which was simmering before the elections, boiled over after the GOP's crippling losses, with intense criticism over his strategy in the Iran war. 

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, a frequent thorn in the side of Republican leadership, introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth in September, but House GOP leaders recessed the chamber early, pushing off a vote on the issue until November.

But since then, the environment has appeared to grow less favorable for Hegseth, and some Republicans, who were once fierce defenders of Hegseth, appear to be reconsidering their support for him.

"I can tell you with a high level of confidence, there's a lot of questions about Hegseth," Rep. James Comer, who leads the House Oversight Committee, said in an interview with News Nation. "We have no idea what the strategy is moving forward in Iran. No one's happy about Iran. I think the Republican voters are more upset about what's going on in Iran than the Democrat voters." 

Massie said he plans to push ahead with forcing a vote on Hegseth's impeachment upon Congress' return, unless he resigns. 

"There is one contingency in which I won't reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns," Massie said last week. 

A day later, Massie warned that his impeachment resolution "is a much gentler version of what's coming when Dem's control Congress." 

"They'll have hearings & trials," he posted on social media. 

Other Republicans remained noncommittal about whether they would support the impeachment effort, like Rep. French Hill of Arkansas. Hill said he's not satisfied with how the war has been handled, but he drew a distinction between Hegseth's job performance and whether he's committed impeachable offenses.

"I want to hear the debate on it to see if it merits impeachment versus some other disciplinary action or action by the president if he's not getting the job done in leading the Department of War," Hill said Sunday on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." 

Reconciliation bill in limbo

For months, Republicans have been eyeing the possibility of a third reconciliation bill, which would allow them to approve GOP priorities like additional defense funding without the help of Democrats. But as the House has pushed forward with the effort, it's faced headwinds in the Senate. And now, time is running out. 

The upper chamber returns this week to a busy schedule, with intense pressure for Republicans to confirm as many of President Trump's administration and judicial nominees as possible as Democrats are poised to block the GOP's ability to move the president's nominees in the final two years of his term. The Senate is also expected to move forward upon its return on a long-sought permitting reform bill, after a bipartisan deal was reached earlier this fall. 

But the push for a party-line bill has continued. Last week, Hegseth urged congressional Republicans to approve additional funds for the Pentagon, saying, "The Department of War must be funded to meet the moment" and calling for a "generational investment" of at least $350 billion.

"We don't back down. And that especially applies now," Hegseth said in a video posted on social media. "Regardless of how people feel about the war — which I believe is a courageous and historic effort that will ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon — we need to continue as President Trump did in his first term, to rebuild our military."

Ron Johnson said on "The Takeout" that, as budget chair, he's been "working behind the scenes preparing for reconciliation 3.0.

"If we can gather everybody together, if we get the direction from the White House, exactly what they need — what we can pass through Republican majorities here in the House and the Senate — it's not going to be an easy lift but I'm ready to do it if leadership, if the White House, wants to act."

But the move could also endanger other efforts. If Republicans try to push through another party-line reconciliation package, DeLauro told CBS News that it would threaten bipartisan negotiations on appropriations bills. 

Thune told CBS News ahead of the election that he remained open to a third reconciliation bill, but he noted at the time that the votes weren't there. 

"It's an option, but it takes 50 votes, which right now we don't have, and maybe that changes after the election," Thune said in late October. "There are some things obviously that the president wants to get done. He wants to deal with the debt limit, defense funding, and we'll see what the appetite is among Democrats to do some of those things, and if we need to do another Republicans-only bill, obviously I'm open to doing that."