Months after it was first launched, a invoice directing the Department of Justice to publicly launch all its Jeffrey Epstein-related information handed the House on Tuesday.
Although the measure handed with near-unanimous help, it nonetheless has to go a number of hurdles earlier than it turns into regulation and information are finally launched.
Here’s what might be subsequent for the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The laws now strikes to the Republican-led Senate, the place its once-uncertain path now appears clearer.
Senate Republican chief John Thune mentioned he expects his chamber to take the measure up “fairly quickly” – even perhaps later Tuesday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer mentioned that he would transfer to go the invoice by unanimous consent later Tuesday, and Thune acknowledged that might be profitable.
“It’s the kind of thing, probably, that could perhaps move by unanimous consent,” Thune mentioned.
And it’s not going the Senate will make any modifications, regardless of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s public request that the chamber accomplish that.
“I think, when a bill comes out of the House 427 to 1, and the president has said he’s going to sign it, I’m not sure that amending it is, is in the cards,” Thune mentioned.
It’s not but clear what number of Republican senators are keen to vote for the invoice – a similar measure led by Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley doesn’t have any Republican co-sponsors – however momentum is now totally behind it and Thune mentioned his crew was “hotlining” it.
Johnson had beforehand instructed reporters he was “very confident” the Senate would methodically think about the invoice and amend it to raised defend folks’s privateness. If the Senate had been to make modifications and go the laws by a easy majority, the House would then must vote once more on the Senate-amended model.
But GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, the bill’s essential sponsor, argued that any such change might be “just another delay tactic,” and that he felt its privateness protections had been sufficient as-is.
A Senate-passed invoice with out modifications would go to President Donald Trump’s desk for his approval.
If the Senate had been to amend it, the invoice would strikes to Trump’s desk after the Senate model was once more handed by the House.
Trump has said he’ll signal the invoice into regulation. But he may additionally change his thoughts and select to veto the invoice, which might then require a two-thirds vote to override the president’s veto. He may additionally determine to not act on the invoice, permitting it to turn out to be regulation with out his signature.
Even if the the invoice turns into regulation, some lawmakers – like GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who lengthy backed the measure – have questioned whether or not the Department of Justice would launch the information or if the data would stay tied up in ongoing investigations.
The White House has not directed the division to take action, in line with an official acquainted with the matter. But usually, the division resists giving Congress information throughout an ongoing felony investigation as a result of any public launch may jeopardize the integrity of the probe or any ensuing felony case. And it’s unclear how the company would possibly reply if the measure was handed by Congress and signed into regulation.