Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is moving to force the Senate to take a vote that would force disclosure of the Jeffrey Epstein files, throwing the chamber into a debate Republicans have so far largely been able to avoid.
In a surprise move, Schumer teed up a procedural vote on a measure directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to make public any available documents that the Justice Department possesses related to Epstein and his associates. Schumer filed the proposal as an amendment to a sweeping defense policy now being debated in the Senate.
“Republicans will HAVE TO vote on it. We’re going to keep fighting until these files are released,” Schumer wrote in a social media post shortly after his floor action.
It’s unlikely the Senate would get to a vote on Schumer’s actual amendment. It first needs to overcome a procedural hurdle, where it will need 60 votes including support from more than a dozen Republicans. One GOP aide, granted anonymity to disclose private discussions, said Schumer’s move threatened to derail bipartisan negotiations over other amendments to the defense bill, one of the few must-pass bills Congress takes up every year.
Republicans could also try to table the amendment. But Democrats are certain to cast any vote as a referendum on Epstein-related transparency.
Schumer’s proposal is identical to a bipartisan House proposal from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). The pair is using a discharge petition to try to force the measure to the House floor over Speaker Mike Johnson’s objections.
Majority Leader John Thune declined to say this week if the Senate would vote on the Massie-Khanna resolution if it passes the House.
“I believe that transparency is always best,” Thune said, but he added that the fate of the bipartisan resolution was a “conversation for the House.”
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