WASHINGTON — As the Republican-led House prepared to leave town for its summer recess, Democrats were united around one goal: forcing them over and over again to confront the Epstein issue that’s divided the GOP.
Across several committees Wednesday, Democrats brought up amendments on whether the government’s files on the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein should be released. It did not matter the focus of the panel, from oversight issues to financial services, Democrats forced the issue.
It’s part of a broader effort by Democrats to capitalize on a pain point for Republicans, a rare moment when President Donald Trump appears to be out of step with his base. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., ultimately canceled the House’s final day of votes before recess after Democrats ground a key organizing committee to a halt with Epstein amendments. Members now head home to their districts for what Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Wednesday called “the Epstein recess.”
The flurry of Democratic amendment offerings in the House succeeded in one case Wednesday. A motion by Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., to compel the Justice Department to release files tied to Epstein was approved in a House Oversight subcommittee hearing. A committee spokesperson later said the subpoena will be issued but did not provide timing.
“Numerous members of this committee and this subcommittee have called for answers and transparency,” Lee said during the hearing. “So let’s do something about it.”
Lee’s motion attracted the votes of three Republicans, who joined with five Democrats to pass it.
In other committees, however, similar attempts by Democrats did not gain traction.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., offered an amendment during a Financial Services Committee meeting Wednesday to require the Treasury Department to turn over information related to Epstein’s financial transactions.
Chairman French Hill, R-Ark., ruled that her amendment was not relevant to the legislation that the committee was dealing with and when Tlaib tried to appeal his ruling, Republicans voted that down.
Over in the Education and the Workforce Committee, Democrats planned to introduce an Epstein-related amendment to a bill designed to enhance the detection of human trafficking. But that bill was pulled from consideration during the committee’s markup, prompting Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., to ask why.
“Is it because the majority did not want to vote on my amendment requiring the Department of Labor to release the Epstein files?” she asked.
Education Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., responded that he had discretion as head of the panel to set its agenda but did not elaborate.
Democrats began bringing up Epstein-related votes in the Rules Committee last week, with Republicans voting down multiple efforts to bring forward measures requiring the release of information related to the convicted sex offender.
Republican leaders eventually had to placate their members on the Rules Committee, who did not want to keep voting down Epstein measures, by bringing forward their own symbolic resolution calling for the release of certain Epstein documents. Johnson has not put that bill on the floor for full House consideration.
Democrats were prepared to repeat their efforts in the Rules Committee this week, but the panel recessed without advancing any legislation in order to avoid more votes on Epstein documents.
Without action by the Rules Committee, which all legislation must pass through before reaching the floor, the House canceled votes Thursday and let members leave town a day early.
Even with the House out for recess, Democrats had planned to keep the amendments coming Thursday.
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., planned to introduce an amendment during a House Appropriations subcommittee meeting to force the Justice Department to provide Congress with a report on its Epstein investigation. That scheduled meeting, however, to advance one of the 12 spending bills that Congress must pass before Sept. 30, was postponed Wednesday night, with the Republican-led committee citing the House’s cancellation of votes as the reason.
It is not just committee hearings where Democrats have hammered Republicans on the Epstein matter. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has repeatedly criticized Republicans over the issue during his news conferences in the past two weeks.
“Why haven’t Republicans released the Epstein files to the American people?” he asked during a news conference Wednesday. “It’s reasonable to conclude that Republicans are continuing to protect the lifestyles of the rich and shameless, even if that includes pedophiles.”
Several Republicans have shot back at Democrats, asking why they did not pursue the Epstein files while President Joe Biden was in office.
“The Biden administration held the Epstein files for four years,” Johnson said Wednesday. “Not a single one of these Democrats or anyone in Congress made any peep about that at all.”
The speaker said Democrats “waited until President Trump was elected.”
Epstein was arrested on federal charges of sex trafficking and died by suicide in prison in 2019, during Trump’s first term.
