Congress
Republicans quickly coalesce behind Epstein bill after Trump backs it
Capitol Hill Republicans are rapidly falling in line behind a bill that would force the disclosure of Justice Department files concerning Jeffrey Epstein after President Donald Trump signaled Monday he would sign it.
Two prominent House committee chairs said they planned to support the bill compelling the release of materials related to the late convicted sex offender, and GOP leaders are exploring whether to advance the measure under special fast-track rules later this week.
Meanwhile, Trump’s sudden support for the measure — after a monthslong campaign to kill it — has transformed its prospects in the Senate, where it was long assumed Republicans would simply bottle it up. Now a growing number of GOP senators are open to giving the bill a vote, and some are wondering whether it might simply be sent to Trump’s desk by unanimous consent.
It’s a remarkable reversal of fortune for the effort to disgorge the “Epstein files,” prompted by a successful bipartisan effort to circumvent Speaker Mike Johnson and force the legislation to the floor.
Recognizing that House approval of the legislation was all but certain, Trump abandoned his efforts to derail the bill in a social media post Sunday night. Asked in the Oval Office on Monday if he would sign it, Trump said, “Sure I would.”
Some of his closest allies in the House said Monday they were ready to follow the president’s lead.
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said in an interview Monday afternoon he will vote for the Epstein bill.
“I think everyone will vote for it,” Jordan said, adding he agreed with Trump that Republicans need “to get this ridiculous thing past us.”
Asked if he expected any changes to the bill authored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) before it gets a floor vote, Jordan replied: “No.”
House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), whose panel has released thousands of Epstein emails that have heightened scrutiny of Trump’s dealings with the disgraced financier, also said he would vote for the bill. He, too, suggested the vote would not be close.
“I mean, I think everybody’s gonna vote for it,” Comer said in an interview.
“It’s just a show vote, you know? I mean, we’re the ones that have already gotten all the new information from the estate,” he said, touting his own panel’s probe into the matter.
Comer also questioned the practical impact of the legislation: “I think the Department of Justice has turned over what they’re legally allowed to turn over.”
Trump suggested as much in his Sunday night post telling lawmakers to support the bill, with many Republicans skeptical about how much new information the department would release if the bill passes.
GOP leaders have tentatively planned to advance the Epstein bill by first adopting a procedural measure in the Rules Committee Monday night that would incorporate a separate procedural measure from Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). If adopted early Tuesday afternoon, the House would immediately proceed to debate and a final vote on the Epstein bill. But GOP leaders have pushed back that vote timing.
House Republican leaders also discussed the option Monday to put the bill up for a vote Tuesday or Wednesday under so-called suspension of the rules, a fast-track procedure requiring a two-thirds majority vote for passage. No final decision has been made, though, according to three people granted anonymity to describe private leadership deliberations.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune isn’t currently expected to weigh in on whether he will bring up the Epstein measure until after it passes the House, according to a person granted anonymity to disclose internal strategy.
But Trump’s support for passing the Epstein files resolution has changed the dynamic inside the Senate GOP, where top Republicans have previously downplayed the chances of the chamber acting on the House bill, according to two other people granted anonymity to comment on the sensitive matter.
A growing number of GOP senators are open to giving the resolution a vote — pointing to both Trump’s comments and interest from their own constituents in seeing Congress take action on Epstein.
“I don’t have any problems with data coming out. So lots of people ran on this issue in the last election, so I don’t have any problems with us voting on it,” Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) told reporters Monday.
Senate Republicans will not return to Washington until Tuesday evening, when they are expected to discuss next steps. The only way for the resolution to pass the Senate this week would be with buy-in from every senator to either speed up a vote or skip one altogether with a vote by unanimous consent, which would let it clear the chamber without a roll call vote.
Congressional passage — and a Trump signature — would not be the end of the Epstein saga on Capitol Hill, however.
Jordan said he plans to have Attorney General Pam Bondi back before his panel for a rescheduled oversight hearing “as soon as possible.” Questions about the Epstein case are sure to take center stage in any hearing, as they did when Bondi recently appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Lawmakers are also bracing for the possibility that Trump might pardon Epstein’s convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, a possibility Trump has repeatedly declined to rule out .
Comer responded sharply when asked if he’d support a pardon for Maxwell: “No, I do not,” he said. “I’ve already said that.”
Congress
Capitol agenda: Mike Johnson’s shutdown gamble
House GOP leaders face an uphill battle to pass the revamped government funding package from the Senate, potentially dragging out the shutdown.
Speaker Mike Johnson hopes to pass the five full-year funding bills and the two-week DHS stopgap on Tuesday relying only on Republicans, after Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told him he wouldn’t help secure the Democrats needed to expedite the legislation. GOP leaders will have to quell an internal Republican revolt before they get there.
Here’s how things are shaping up ahead of Tuesday:
— Democrats divided, Republicans seek unity: Most House Democrats who spoke during a private caucus call Sunday evening were against the package, which was negotiated by Senate Democrats and the White House. House Homeland Security ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) was among the Democrats urging members to oppose it in a Dear Colleague email Sunday night.
But some senior Democrats on the call said they supported the legislation, including Reps. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and New Democrat Coalition Chair Brad Schneider of Illinois, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the conversation. The disconnect between leadership and other senior members is triggering some hand-wringing among frontline Democrats about what to do next.
Even though some Democrats are signaling they’d vote for the package in the end, it’s not clear whether Johnson can get past the procedural step of adopting a rule with GOP support still uncertain and Democrats unlikely to bail him out.
GOP leaders and White House officials are trying to convince key hard-liners to get on board.
Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) are among the Republicans who want to attach legislation aimed at preventing noncitizens from voting in elections. Some ultra-conservatives oppose the Senate agreement overall and would prefer a Homeland stopgap that lasts six weeks or longer.
Luna said Sunday night that “these appropriations bills will FAIL” if the election citizenship legislation isn’t included.
— Bigger DHS deal looks tougher: Key lawmakers continue to raise red flags about striking a deal on a full-year DHS funding bill by the time the two-week CR expires.
Johnson on Sunday panned Democrats’ demands to bar federal immigration enforcement officers from wearing masks and to require them to wear identification. He also signaled unwillingness to negotiate on tightening requirements for judicial warrants for immigration operations. Jeffries is insisting that an agreement on judicial warrants is “a condition of moving forward.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune doesn’t believe Congress can pass a Homeland Security deal in two weeks, telling reporters late last week that “a two-week CR probably means there’s going to be another two-week CR and then maybe another two-week CR after that.”
“I just think it’s going to be really, really hard to get anything done and then actually execute on the procedures and process we have in the Senate, even if there’s an agreement,” he said.
What else we’re watching:
— Johnson to swear in new Dem: Johnson plans to swear in Houston Democrat Christian Menefee before votes Monday night, pending final certification of his special runoff victory to serve out the rest of the late Rep. Sylvester Turner’s term. Once Menefee joins the House, Johnson will have a single-vote buffer with 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats.
Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill, Mia McCarthy and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
Congress
Mike Johnson says House can end government shutdown ‘by Tuesday’
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he is confident Congress can end the partial government shutdown “by Tuesday” despite steep opposition from Democrats and turmoil within the GOP conference.
Johnson is under pressure to unite his caucus, with lawmakers raising concerns about funding for the Department of Homeland Security as the Trump administration faces scrutiny over its nationwide immigration crackdown that has at times turned violent.
House Republicans are hoping to take up the $1.2 trillion funding package passed by the Senate on Tuesday following a House Rules Committee meeting Monday. The partial shutdown began early Saturday.
GOP leadership in the House originally hoped to pass the bill under suspension of the rules, an expedited process that requires a two-thirds-majority vote, but Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Johnson on Saturday that Democrats would not help Republicans acquire the necessary support for the spending bill.
“I’m confident that we’ll do it at least by Tuesday,” Johnson said in a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We have a logistical challenge of getting everyone in town, and because of the conversation I had with Hakeem Jeffries, I know that we’ve got to pass a rule and probably do this mostly on our own. I think that’s very unfortunate.”
The Senate voted Friday to pass a compromise spending package after Senate Democrats struck a deal with President Donald Trump to extend DHS funding for two weeks. The move bought Congress more time to work out a compromise on reforms for Immigration and Customs Enforcement after federal officers fatally shot two people in Minnesota earlier this month.
Speaking to host Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press,” Johnson acknowledged that “there’s been tragedies in Minnesota” — but he also blamed Democrats in the state for “inciting violence,” even as the Trump administration attempts to tamp down pressures in the state.
Johnson praised Trump’s decision to send White House border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis, a step widely seen as a deescalation from the aggressive tactics favored by Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino.
“[Trump] was right to deputize him over that situation,” he said of Homan on NBC. “He has 40 years of experience in Border Patrol and these issues. So I think that this is going to happen, but we need good faith on both sides. Some of these conditions and requests that they’ve made are obviously reasonable and should happen. But others are going to require a lot more negotiation.”
Johnson pushed back in particular on Democratic calls to bar federal immigration enforcement officers from wearing masks and require them to wear identification, telling Fox’s Shannon Bream: “Those two things are conditions that would create further danger.”
He also signaled an unwillingness to negotiate on Democratic demands to tighten requirements for judicial warrants for immigration operations.
Still, House Democrats remained opposed to passing the funding package as is, with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) saying Sunday: “I’m not just a no. I’m a firm no.”
“I just don’t see how in good conscience Democrats can vote for continuing ICE funding when they’re killing American citizens, when there’s no provision to repeal the tripling of the budget,” Khanna said in a Sunday interview with Welker on NBC. “I hope my colleagues will say no.”
Jeffries also signaled Sunday that a wide gap remains between his conference and House Republicans, telling ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that the House must reach an agreement on judicial warrants “as a condition of moving forward.”
“The one thing that we’ve said publicly is that we need a robust path toward dramatic reform,” Jeffries said on ABC’s “This Week.” “The administration can’t just talk the talk, they need to walk the walk. That should begin today. Not in two weeks, today.”
Congress
Shutdown likely to continue at least into Tuesday
The partial government shutdown that began early Saturday morning is on track to continue at least into Tuesday, which is the earliest the House is now expected to vote on a $1.2 trillion funding package due to opposition from Democrats and internal GOP strife.
House Republican leaders have scheduled a Monday meeting of the House Rules Committee to prepare the massive Senate-passed spending bill for the floor. According to two people granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, the procedural measure teeing up a final vote would not happen until Tuesday, with final passage following if that is successful.
That’s one day later than GOP leaders had hoped. Their previous plan was to pass the bill with Democratic help under suspension of the rules, a fast-track process requiring a two-thirds-majority vote.
But that plan was complicated by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries telling Speaker Mike Johnson in a private conversation Saturday that Democratic leadership would not help Johnson secure the 70 or so Democratic votes to get the measure over the line, according to the two people and another person granted anonymity to discuss the matter.
The Tuesday plan remains tentative as GOP leaders scramble to navigate tensions inside their own conference, which could make passing the procedural measure difficult. Some conservative hard-liners, for instance, want to attach a sweeping elections bill to the package.
Jeffries said in a MS NOW interview Saturday that Republicans “cannot simply move forward with legislation taking a my way or the highway approach” while noting that House Democrats are set to have “a discussion about the appropriate way forward” in a Sunday evening caucus call — first reported by Blue Light News.
He did not rule out that Democrats might support the Senate-passed spending package, which funds the majority of federal agencies through Sept. 30 while providing a two-week extension for the Department of Homeland Security — including controversial immigration enforcement agencies.
Democrats, Jeffries said, want “a robust, ironclad path to bringing about the type of change that the American people are demanding” in immigration enforcement.
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