WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — The House voted 211-204 Tuesday to send Rep. Thomas Massie’s impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the Judiciary Committee, blocking an immediate vote on whether to impeach him. Lawmakers decided where to send the measure; they did not rule on the allegations or find Hegseth guilty of misconduct.

Republicans backed the referral 210-1, with Massie the only Republican who opposed it. All 203 Democrats who voted opposed the referral, seeking a floor debate on the charges. Eleven Democrats and seven Republicans did not vote; one independent voted for referral.

The vote came after Massie used a House procedure to force action on his resolution, H.Res. 1655. Republican leaders instead offered a motion to refer it to committee. Once the House approved that motion, the measure left the floor without a vote on its substance. The Judiciary Committee can review the resolution, but the current Congress has only weeks remaining before it ends in January.

Massie’s resolution lays out eight articles of impeachment. Several accuse Hegseth of directing U.S. military action against Iran without congressional authorization and continuing the war beyond limits set by the War Powers Resolution. The resolution also alleges that Hegseth weakened civilian-protection programs before a U.S. strike hit a school in Minab, Iran, causing more than 200 civilian deaths and injuries. Those are claims made by Massie; Tuesday’s vote did not test them.

The other articles accuse Hegseth of authorizing lethal strikes against boats suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, directing the January operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and retaliating against Sen. Mark Kelly. Kelly, a retired Navy captain, had said in a video that service members can refuse illegal orders. Massie’s resolution calls the boat strikes extrajudicial killings and describes the Maduro operation as an unauthorized use of military force.

Hegseth rejected the charges at a Pentagon news conference Tuesday, calling the impeachment effort a “farce” and a “political spectacle.” He said the resolution repackaged policy disagreements as impeachable conduct and defended the administration’s military operations as lawful. President Donald Trump also backed Hegseth before the vote, saying he would stand by the defense secretary.

After the vote, Massie said he expected the outcome but remained disappointed. He said he would not introduce another impeachment resolution, though he planned to push for a separate vote on war powers. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said the effort was “not the end of it.”

The vote also unfolded amid the political fallout from the Nov. 3 midterms. Democrats won control of both chambers and will take over in January. Some Republicans have blamed the Iran war and rising fuel costs for their party’s losses, while Hegseth has defended the campaign as necessary to confront Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

The incoming Democratic majority could revisit the allegations, but Tuesday’s vote does not guarantee that it will. The House would need a majority to impeach Hegseth; the Senate would then hold a trial, and two-thirds of senators would have to vote to convict and remove him. For now, the House has sent Massie’s resolution to a committee without deciding whether Hegseth’s conduct warrants impeachment.