Rep. Andrew Garbarino elected chair of the House Homeland Security Committee
The House Rules Committee came to a standstill Monday night as GOP leaders struggled to contain rank-and-file Republicans and their Democratic allies clamoring for a floor vote to compel the publication of materials related to the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
Committee Democrats had planned to force a vote that evening on legislation that would call for the release of the materials, as the panel worked to tee up floor consideration on a slate of unrelated bills. It was poised to be a repeat of what transpired last Thursday inside Rules, which gummed up the works for several hours.
But rather than this time work through the Democratic disruption, Republicans chose instead Monday to recess the rest of the Rules meeting altogether, with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) saying it was 'unlikely' that the panel would reconvene this week at all. Later, lawmakers said there were no plans to return at all.
That means House members will depart for August recess at the week's end without being able to vote on legislation that would not otherwise be able to pass on the chamber floor with a simple majority vote, including an immigration-related bill that would increase penalties for individuals who enter the country illegally and a water-permitting measure.
The House will still vote on measures that can be taken up under an expedited procedure typically reserved for noncontroversial legislation that can pass with a two-thirds majority of those present and voting, such as a bill that would establish new ZIP Codes for certain communities and deter China in the ongoing Taiwan conflict.
'See you in September,' said Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). He was spearheading the effort to call up a vote on the legislation from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). The two men are working to force a floor vote on that bill through a procedural maneuver known as a discharge petition, which allows members to put a bill on the floor without leadership approval if the effort gets 218 signatures.
Scalise blamed Democrats for the meltdown.
'At the end of the day, look, Democrats are yelling and screaming,' he said in an interview. 'They spent four years covering up for Epstein, and you know, at least President Trump's in the courts right now trying to get documents released, and I really think you're gonna see, hopefully, a lot unsealed from that and then we've got some other options.'
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the Rules Committee, also accused Democrats of 'grandstanding' and said Republicans refused to give the minority party 'an endless microphone.'
McGovern, in a statement, accused Republicans of making their own mess.
'Democrats on the Rules Committee gave Republicans a choice — either vote to release the Epstein Files, or keep them a secret. Republicans are so afraid of taking that vote that they are torching their own agenda instead of doing something they promised the voters they would do,' he said. 'Trump and his top allies have been pushing this for years — and people aren't going to forget about it in a month.'
Massie, speaking to reporters Monday night, was unrepentant. He'd just been seeing walking onto the House floor with a binder labeled 'The Epstein Files: Phase 2,' and the bill number of his resolution with Khanna.
'Their Epstein bill resolution is non-binding so it's kind of fake. The resolution I have with Khanna would be binding on the President,' Massie said, explaining the breakdown between Republican leaders and other members of the House. Rules leadership last week teed up compromise legislation that would simply support the release of Epstein materials, which opponents called two week and which Speaker Mike Johnson has since said he won't bring to the floor, anyway.
Scalise reiterated that decision, saying in a brief interview, 'the Trump administration's petitioned the courts to release some of the sealed documents. Hopefully, the court acts swiftly. It'd be important if they got that out.'
Trump last week instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to begin the process of unsealing grand jury testimony in Epstein's criminal case. It followed publication of a Wall Street Journal report alleging Trump sent Epstein a racy birthday letter several decades ago, though Trump has said the letter is fake and is now seeking billions in a defamation lawsuit against the paper.
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