House Epstein files bill: petition gets enough support to force vote

Petition reaches required threshold

Massie began gathering signatures over the summer, using a discharge petition to bypass House leadership and seek a vote on the legislation. The petition reached 218 signatures Wednesday, the number required to bring the measure to the floor.

All Democrats signed, along with four Republicans: Massie, Brian Fitzgerald of Pennsylvania, and Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman of South Carolina. The legislation is called the Epstein Files Transparency Act II.

Bill creates legal route

The proposal would allow members of Congress, state attorneys general and survivors of Jeffrey Epstein to sue the Justice Department. They could bring a case if the department failed to meet disclosure requirements in the Epstein Transparency Act.

That earlier law was signed nearly a year ago, after lawmakers used a similar maneuver. The new bill focuses on enforcement of its requirements to release files.

Massie alleges withheld records

Massie has accused the Justice Department of repeatedly disregarding the disclosure rules. In a July statement, he said the department was withholding more than 3 million files and applying extensive redactions to records it had released. The legislation now has enough petition support to receive a vote, but the article does not report when that vote will take place.