CONGRESSMAN ON HIS WAY OUT SEEMS TO BE THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTS TO WORK

Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who lost his primary in May to a Trump-backed challenger, walked onto the House floor Tuesday and read eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth out loud, starting right after the chamber gaveled in at noon. A man with no job come January, spending the time he has left making 434 colleagues vote on the thing they want to vote on least. The first three articles say Hegseth blew past the 1973 War Powers Resolution by starting and continuing the Iran conflict with no declaration of war and no statutory authorization, then kept the hostilities going after Congress directed U.S. forces out. The rest allege he disregarded laws meant to limit civilian casualties, ordered extrajudicial killings in operations against suspected drug traffickers, and retaliated against a sitting senator. Massie's own statement accuses him of kidnapping foreign leaders and intimidating critics for exercising free speech. None of it has been adjudicated, and Hegseth and the Pentagon had not responded. Here's the part leadership hates. Massie filed the resolution as privileged, so the House has to take it up within two legislative days, meaning a vote by Thursday, seven weeks before the November 3 midterms. Republicans can move to table it and end the whole thing, which is what everybody expects, and which requires every single one of them to push a button with their name attached. This also comes amidst a wave of congressional abscenses as a way to defer votes until after the midterms.

Why you should give a shit: Killing this thing takes a recorded vote too, so by Thursday every House Republican has to publicly decide whether 90-plus days of war nobody authorized is a problem, with voters grading the answer in seven weeks.