{"id":11581,"date":"2025-07-23T12:02:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T12:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-johnson-tries-to-contain-epstein-dissent\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T12:02:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T12:02:05","slug":"capitol-agenda-johnson-tries-to-contain-epstein-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-johnson-tries-to-contain-epstein-dissent\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Johnson tries to contain Epstein dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Speaker Mike Johnson is managing a delicate balance between appeasing antsy Republicans over the Jeffrey Epstein files and buying President Donald Trump time by shutting down the House early for August recess.<\/p>\n

The Louisiana Republican tried to quell dissent in a closed-door House GOP meeting Tuesday. He told members to stay united, arguing it would take time for the administration to release files that would also protect the names of Epstein\u2019s victims.<\/p>\n

But Republicans are getting impatient. In an Oversight subcommittee hearing Tuesday, lawmakers voted to compel the full committee to subpoena Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) later told reporters he had warned GOP leadership last week that if the Epstein files came up in his committee, most of his members would vote on the side of transparency.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knew that,\u201d Comer said, adding that his team will visit Maxwell in prison for the interview once they negotiate details with her attorneys.<\/p>\n

The saga has given Democrats just the platform they needed to land a successful blow on the White House. In her latest column, Rachael Bade outlines<\/a> just how much the party has found their mojo in effectively hijacking the House and sticking it to Trump.<\/p>\n

Democratic efforts to further drive the MAGA wedge has legs beyond this week. The bipartisan bill led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), which would compel the release of more files, could hit the floor as soon as lawmakers return in September.<\/p>\n

That means Republican leaders are bracing for Democrats to keep the Epstein issue hot during August recess. And some of their own members who are itching for an outlet acknowledge that five weeks off may not stop Johnson\u2019s headache.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Epstein issue has contributed to their desire to just get us out of town because they hope that the energy will dissipate,\u201d Massie told reporters Tuesday. \u201cI doubt that\u2019s the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019re watching:\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dems\u2019 appropriations strategy: <\/b>As the Senate continues working through appropriations bills, Democrats met Tuesday to discuss their demands ahead of a government shutdown deadline in September. The Democratic leaders emerged Tuesday with no specific ultimatums for Republicans but called for them to negotiate in good faith.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Senate\u2019s version of the CLARITY Act: <\/b>Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Sens. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Bernie Moreno of Ohio released draft legislation Tuesday<\/a> for a digital asset market structure overhaul. It\u2019s the Senate\u2019s version of the House\u2019s CLARITY ACT, which passed the House on July 17 with support from 78 Democrats and would divvy up regulation of digital assets under the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.<\/p>\n

\u2014 More funding clawbacks: <\/b>Republican leaders are in talks with the White House about a second rescissions package<\/a>, after pushing through the first rescissions package last week. The package would include Education Department funding, which was first reported by the Daily Signal. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise did not disclose the specifics of upcoming rescissions but told Blue Light News talks were well underway.<\/p>\n

Meredith Lee Hill, Hailey Fuchs, Jasper Goodman, Juan Perez Jr. and Eli Stokols\u00a0contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaker Mike Johnson is managing a delicate balance between appeasing antsy Republicans over the Jeffrey Epstein files and buying President Donald Trump time by shutting down the House early for August recess. The Louisiana Republican tried to quell dissent in a closed-door House GOP meeting Tuesday. He told members to stay united, arguing it would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}