Massie said Wednesday he’s working with lawmakers to get the Epstein Files Transparency Act Part II “to the floor for a vote soon,” after a discharge petition for the bill reached the necessary threshold Wednesday morning, Forbes reported.
***
A discharge petition allows a bill to skip the normal procedure of having to go through a committee first and instead go straight to the House floor, and requires 218 lawmakers to sign it in order for it to pass.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act Part II is a follow up to the first Epstein Files Transparency Act, which forced the Trump administration to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.
The second part of the act is meant to address criticisms that the government has improperly withheld or redacted some documents, giving state attorneys general and Epstein victims the right to sue the federal government for improperly withholding, concealing or redacting Epstein documents.
It also gives lawmakers broad rights to challenge any Epstein-related documents the DOJ is keeping secret, and makes it a criminal offense for government officials to withhold any files.
The bill had been widely expected to go to the House floor for a vote, with Massie and bill cosponsor Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., saying in September they had secured enough lawmaker support to force a vote, but not all of those lawmakers had actually signed the discharge petition until Wednesday.
