众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯（民主党-纽约州）在中期选举大胜后意气风发。这场胜利让民主党明年将拥有巨大多数优势，也使他成为议长的稳操胜券之人。但首先，他在跛脚鸭会期面临一些艰难抉择。
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is flying high following a midterm landslide that gives Democrats a huge majority next year and makes him a shoo-in for the Speakership. But first, he’s facing some tough choices in the lame-duck session.
国会本周返回华盛顿，议事日程上有若干高关注度议题，这些议题很可能在民主党内部造成分歧，并在杰弗里斯及其领导团队正准备过渡进入多数党之际给他们带来挑战。
Congress returns to Washington this week with several high-profile topics on the docket that are likely to divide Democrats and pose challenges for Jeffries and his leadership team just as they’re gearing up to transition into the majority.
议题清单包括对国防部长皮特·赫格塞思的弹劾——杰弗里斯拒绝表态支持——以及涉及能源项目审批的改革，后者正在这个意识形态多元的党团内部撕裂自由派与中间派。
The list includes the impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which Jeffries has declined to endorse, and permitting reforms governing energy projects that are splitting liberals and centrists within the ideologically diverse caucus.
杰弗里斯还面临如何对待众议员海莉·史蒂文斯（民主党-密歇根州）的难题。史蒂文斯在最后时刻做出惊人之举，在密歇根州参议院选举中背书共和党人迈克·罗杰斯，激怒了许多民主党人，并引发了对纪律处分的呼声。
Jeffries is also facing the tough question of how to approach Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), whose extraordinary, eleventh-hour move to endorse Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s Senate race has infuriated many Democrats and led to calls for a disciplinary response.
杰弗里斯未排除这种可能性，称史蒂文斯做出了“糟糕的决定”。但任何此类行动都会在民主党正努力展示大选大胜后团结阵线之际，凸显党内分歧。杰弗里斯将任何决定都推迟到跛脚鸭会期。
Jeffries has left open that possibility, saying Stevens made a “terrible decision.”But any such action would highlight Democratic divisions just as the party is working to demonstrate a unified front following its massive election victory. Jeffries punted any decisions to the lame-duck session.
同样，民主党人仍在权衡是否应让两位中间派同僚——众议员贾里德·戈尔登（民主党-缅因州）和玛丽·格鲁森坎普·佩雷斯（民主党-华盛顿州）——承担后果，此前二人在中期选举前倒戈帮助共和党推进其信息议程。
In similar fashion, Democrats are still weighing whether a pair of centrist colleagues, Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), should face repercussions after jumping the aisle to help Republicans advance their messaging agenda ahead of the midterms.
这些争论都远不及共和党人面临的内部纷争。共和党在选举中惨败，引发了领导权之争、一片相互指责，以及在特朗普总统任期最后阶段关于共和党走向的尖锐新质疑。
None of those debates rises to the level of the internal strife facing Republicans, whose election drubbing has sparked leadership fights, a rash of finger-pointing, and harsh new questions about the direction of the GOP in the twilight years of the Trump presidency.
尽管如此，每一个问题都将以各自独特的方式，对杰弗里斯及其领导团队构成早期考验，即便他们正在庆祝中期选举的大胜。
Still, each one of those issues will, in its own unique way, pose an early test for Jeffries and his leadership team even as they celebrate their midterm rout.
赫格塞思的命运问题很可能最先到来。众议员托马斯·马西（共和党-肯塔基州）采取行动，推动在9月就针对这位国防部长的八项弹劾条款进行投票，其中一半与他处理伊朗战争的方式有关。议长迈克·约翰逊（共和党-路易斯安那州）通过提前休会避免了选举前的这次投票，但马西承诺，只要议员们本周返回，就会重新提出这一问题。
The question of Hegseth’s fate will likely be the first to arrive. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) moved to force a September vote on eight articles of impeachment against the Defense secretary, half of them related to his handling of the Iran war. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) avoided that preelection vote by calling an early recess, but Massie is promising to revisit the issue as soon as lawmakers return this week.
赫格塞思为民主党人所憎恶，多数人似乎准备支持马西的决议。但至少一些中间派民主党人可能会反对这一努力。而杰弗里斯在下届国会中必须与政府合作才能在立法上有所作为，他一直拒绝支持这一举措，只表示特朗普应该解雇这位五角大楼负责人。
Hegseth is despised by Democrats, and most appear ready to support Massie’s resolution. But at least some centrist Democrats are likely to oppose the effort. And Jeffries, who will have to work with the administration to get anything done legislatively in the next Congress, has refused to get behind it, saying only that Trump should fire the Pentagon chief.
上周选举结束后，当被问及民主党对赫格塞思的态度时，杰弗里斯再次强调，处理他的是特朗普，而不是国会。“皮特·赫格塞思还在吗？”杰弗里斯在华盛顿对记者说。
Asked last week, after the elections, about the Democrats’ approach to Hegseth, Jeffries again leaned on the idea that Trump, not Congress, would deal with him.
许可改革可能构成更严峻的考验。参议院准备在周一投票推进一项两党法案，该法案旨在加快能源和基础设施项目的审批流程。自由派坚决反对这项立法，警告称它削弱了具有里程碑意义的环保法律，并威胁到美洲原住民社区的主权。
“Is Pete Hegseth still around?”Jeffries asked reporters in Washington.
杰弗里斯站在自由派一边，表示除非做出解决这些关切的修改，否则他不会支持该方案。但他的立场正遭到更温和的民主党人的反对，这些人将改革视为该党负担能力议程的关键部分。
Permitting reform may pose a tougher test. The Senate is poised to vote Monday to advance a bipartisan bill designed to accelerate the approval process for energy and infrastructure projects. Liberals are adamantly opposed to the legislation, warning that it undermines landmark environmental protection laws and threatens the sovereignty of Native American communities.
“现代化我们的许可程序是降低公用事业成本、创造高薪本地就业并保障能源未来的重要途径，我们必须完成这项工作，”堪萨斯州民主党众议员沙里丝·戴维兹（Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan.）在一份声明中表示，该声明强调她正在与本党领导层决裂。
Jeffries is siding with the liberals, saying he won’t support the package without changes addressing those concerns. But his position is getting pushback from more moderate Democrats, who see the reforms as a key piece of the party’s affordability agenda.
伊利诺伊州民主党众议员妮基·布津斯基（Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill.）预计将在下一届国会领导新民主党联盟，她也力推在鸭子会期推进许可改革。
“Modernizing our permitting process is an important way to lower utility costs, create good-paying local jobs, and secure our energy future, and we need to get it done,” Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) said in a statement, which emphasized that she was breaking from her own leadership.
“这，我想，是一项关于能源和能源发电等极其复杂问题的、经过谈判的两党法案的真正典范，”她上周在电话中表示。“如果该法案在参议院通过，我希望能参与推动其在众议院通过，并送到总统的办公桌上。”
Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.), who’s expected to lead the New Democrat Coalition in the next Congress, is also gunning to move permitting reform in the lame-duck session.
围绕史蒂文斯的决定则更具个人色彩。这位密歇根州民主党人在竞选最后几天支持罗杰斯，令全国震惊，激怒了各派民主党人。密歇根州民主党主席柯蒂斯·赫特尔迅速着手将其开除。
“This is a truly, I think, an example of a negotiated, bipartisan bill on a very complicated set of issues related to energy and energy generation,” she said last week by phone. “If it gets out of the Senate, I want to be a part of helping to bring it out of the House and get it to the president’s desk.”The decision surrounding Stevens is much more personal. The Michigan Democrat stunned the country by endorsing Rogers in the final days of the campaign, infuriating Democrats of all stripes. And Curtis Hertel, the head of the Michigan Democratic Party, quickly moved to expel her.
“史蒂文斯众议员不是密歇根州民主党的现任成员，未来也不会成为成员，”赫特尔在社交平台上发帖称。国会山上一些民主党人希望看到类似的惩罚。然而，不清楚党领导层是否愿意支持如此激进的举措，因为这将在原本一片胜利的时刻凸显内部分歧，尤其是在以色列这一棘手问题上。史蒂文斯在参议院初选中失利，明年不会重返国会，一些民主党人会怀疑，在她任期仅剩几周之际，是否值得挑起这场斗争。
“Congresswoman Stevens is not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future,” Hertel posted on social platform Some Democrats in the Capitol would like to see a similar punishment. It’s unclear, however, if party leaders want to back such a drastic step, which would highlight internal divisions, especially on the thorny issue of Israel, in a moment that’s been otherwise triumphant. Stevens, who lost in the Senate primary, is not returning to Congress next year, and some Democrats will wonder if it’s worth picking that fight with just a few weeks left in her tenure.
杰弗里斯已将决定搁置，表示他将在本周与更广泛的党团会谈后权衡各种选择。
Jeffries has punted the decision, saying he would weigh the options after talking to the broader caucus this week.
“海莉·史蒂文斯做了一个糟糕的决定，让所有人措手不及，也使自己被众议院民主党党团孤立，”杰弗里斯在一份声明中说。“我们回来后将会讨论适当的下一步措施。”围绕戈尔登和格卢森坎普·佩雷斯的争议，在选举成为焦点之际已经淡化。但就在两个月前，民主党人还群情激愤，因为这两位温和派与共和党人联手通过了一些规则，使共和党领导人得以推进旨在在中期选举中打击民主党的立法。
“Haley Stevens made a terrible decision, blindsided everyone and isolated herself from the House Democratic Caucus,” Jeffries said in a statement. “We will have a discussion about appropriate next steps upon our return.”The controversy surrounding Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez has faded amid the focus on the elections. But just two months ago, Democrats were up in arms after the two moderates joined forces with Republicans to pass rules that allowed GOP leaders to advance legislation designed to hurt Democrats in the midterms.
一些人想剥夺格卢森坎普·佩雷斯一个令人艳羡的委员会席位。（戈尔登即将退休，受到的审视较少。）面对这一强烈反对，杰弗里斯召集民主党党团规则委员会召开特别会议，研究在进入下一届国会前对党内内部准则可能作出的修改。该小组在未得出任何结论的情况下离开华盛顿，进入漫长的选举休会期，但委员会成员表示，他们将在跛脚鸭会期恢复这项工作。
Some wanted to strip Gluesenkamp Perez of a plum committee seat. (Golden is retiring and faces less scrutiny.) Jeffries responded to the outcry by calling a special meeting of the Democrats’ Committee on Caucus Rules to examine potential changes to the party’s internal guidelines heading into the next Congress. The panel left Washington for the long election recess without reaching any conclusions, but members of the committee said they would resume that work in the lame-duck session.
“这一过程会走完的，”委员会成员、众议员史蒂文·霍斯福德（民主党-内华达州）当时说。
“The process will play out,” Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), a member of the committee, said at the time.