The Power at Your Fingertips: Congress, YOU Have to Show Up. Every Vote. Every Action in these Closing Weeks Counts

Dear House Democrats,

You swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. When the House calls a vote on whether to hold a secretary of defense accountable for a war Congress has not authorized, your place is on the floor. A political reception can wait. Allow time for traffic. If you want to honor veterans, use your vote to hold the people who send them to war accountable. An entire congressional district is counting on you.

On November 10, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie brought articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. All 203 Democrats who voted joined Massie in voting to keep the effort alive.

210 and 1 independent voted to refer the articles to the Republican-led Judiciary Committee. This was a motion to kill the impeachment effort, and it passed 211–204. Eleven House Democrats missed the vote.

Had eight of the absent Democrats voted that late afternoon with their colleagues, the motion would have failed and the House could have taken up the articles. You had a an obligation to do the job voters sent you there to do.

Most Americans never have occasion to see what a single vote can do on the House floor. You, as a Member of Congress, do. You swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and honor that oath by voting. Every bill that comes to the floor deserves your attention. Your job is to be there and stay vigilant for our democracy. Your vote matters.

After the House blocked consideration of the articles, Hegseth stands emboldened. The attacks on Iran, and retaliation have continued, putting civilians and American service members in danger. Congress has a responsibility to act while it still has the chance.

This midterm was a referendum on Donald Trump and the war in Iran. You received majority power, beginning in January. Until then, Republican leaders still control what comes to the House floor. They have weeks to move bills and funding deals. If you use your vote, you may be able to change the outcome.

The House has had three votes to end the war in Iran, using war powers resolutions. Twice, in June and July of this year, four Republicans joined Democrats to pass those bills. A third vote, only two months ago, had seven Republicans joining Democrats to once again call for an end to the war.

While the President has veto power, you can let the American people know that you are not giving up. A post-election Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 71 percent of Americans want Congress to pass legislation ending the war. Reuters/Ipsos poll.

There is another, formidable opportunity with government funding expiring on December 11th, 2026.

Use your power to demand that money for the war against Iran be removed from the legislation which funds our government.

During my husband Dennis Kucinich’s years in Congress, I was known as one of the most active congressional spouses. I worked on projects of my own and, in the closing weeks of a session, supported Dennis directly.

The lame-duck session may be the most important stretch of the congressional calendar. Dennis and I call it Congress’ “Going Out of Business Sale.”

Dennis kept watch on the House floor and read cobbled-together legislation Republican leaders were trying to rush through. When we heard that something was coming up that warranted an objection, we hurried back so he could raise it.

The House could come back from recess hours after the last scheduled vote. If leadership sought unanimous consent, any one member on the floor could object and stop a bill from passing. So we stayed.

I often spent hours outside the Democratic entrance to the House chamber, waiting for him to finish on the floor, or watched from the Congressional Families’ Gallery. Late-night votes meant bringing food to the Capitol and picnicking on the back steps overlooking the Mall. Other times, we stayed through the early hours of the morning and slept in his office if we needed to.

In November 2006, voters turned against a Republican president’s corruption and war and gave Democrats the House. By May 2007, the Democratic Congress had approved another round of war funding without a timetable for withdrawal.

Twenty years later, the country is here are again.

Twenty years later, opposition to this Republican president’s war has helped return Democrats to power.

The vote on Secretary Hegseth was an early test of what you would do with the trust voters placed in you. The next test will come when the White House asks you to keep paying for the war. You have votes to cast between now and January. That is where you can break the cycle.

Before the Iraq invasion, Dennis challenged the Bush administration’s false claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and its attempts to link Iraq to al-Qaeda and 9/11.

I was in the House Gallery in November 2007 when Dennis brought three articles of impeachment against Republican Vice President Dick Cheney to the floor. I watched, incredulous, as House Democratic leaders moved to send them to committee to die, rather than advance impeachment and accountability.

In June 2008, I sat alone in the House Gallery as Dennis read thirty-five articles of impeachment against Republican President George W. Bush. The moment was so serious, and yet so few people witnessed it.

House Democratic leaders had promised Dennis a hearing on the impeachment resolution. But, they insisted that Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers conduct it as an oversight hearing on executive power. Dennis testified, but the committee never considered the articles in a formal impeachment hearing, and so no recommendation went to the full House.

By refusing to let the articles advance, House Democratic leaders abdicated Congress’s responsibility as a coequal branch of government. The Constitution gives the House the sole power of impeachment so it can hold the executive to account. That power means little when the people entrusted with it refuse to use it.

I think about those years when I see the deals this administration is making and what it is prepared to give away.

Dock Cheney had run Halliburton before becoming vice president. As the United States invaded Iraq, Halliburton subsidiary KBR received a $2.5 billion no-bid contract to restore Iraq’s oil infrastructure. Under the cost-plus deal, taxpayers covered allowable costs, KBR received a fixed fee and the company could earn a bonus.

Washington found billions for well-connected contractors overseas while here at home, bridges deteriorated, water systems aged and families struggled to afford a place to live.

Innocent people in Iraq paid for the war, with their lives. By July 2006, a study published in The Lancet estimated about 655,000 excess Iraqi deaths since the invasion.

In 2006, voters who wanted the Iraq War to end gave Democrats the House. Bush vetoed a funding bill with a withdrawal timetable. Congress sent him another bill that kept the war funded without any timetable. Eighty-six House Democrats joined most Republicans to pass it. Voters had trusted Democrats to challenge the war but Congress kept paying for it.

Members of Congress:

Protect our country in these closing weeks. Be vigilant for us all, for our country. Be the conduit for democracy, for the upholding of the Constitution and end to illegal activities.

If you think your work can wait until January, think again. These may be the most consequential weeks on your congressional calendar.

Be present for every vote. Stay at the Capitol until the House adjourns.

Read what Republican leadership brings to the floor. Object when leadership tries to rush a bill through by unanimous consent.

Get your colleagues behind a demand for a roll call and put your own vote on the record. When the White House asks for more money to wage war in Iran, be there to vote no.

I know what it means to wait at the Capitol long after most people have gone home. I’ve seen what one member can do simply by being there. When there’s an opening to act, take it. If you’re waiting for someone else to stand up, remember who your constituents sent to Congress.

It is your job. The votes that can make a difference are coming now.

It’s time for Congress to lead. Show up, use your vote, and hold this administration accountable. That work begins now.

Elizabeth J. Kucinich

__