Seriously? "House Republicans have virtually stopped work on all major legislation leading up to their six-week summer recess to avoid taking votes on forcing the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files," reports Axios. I suppose if you want Congress to stop spending money, this is a good thing. But it's rather pathetic that, instead of erring toward transparency, they've decided to stonewall.
"The House Rules Committee is not planning to hold votes this week to prepare major legislation for the House floor, meaning any remaining votes will likely be on small, noncontroversial bills," notes Axios. Formerly on the docket: environmental and immigration-related legislation. "But Democrats planned to force yet more votes on amendments aimed at pressuring the Justice Department to release all its documents on Epstein." So now Republicans simply won't hold the votes.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) is one of the lone Republicans who is actually interested in releasing the files. Together with Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Calif.)—two former Just Asking Questions guests, for those paying attention—they introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) about a week ago, which was meant to force a House vote on the release of the government's files on Jeffrey Epstein. The House refused to consider the legislation within seven legislative days, so a discharge petition has been circulated. "We all deserve to know what's in the Epstein files, who's implicated, and how deep this corruption goes," said Massie. "If your Representative won't sign the discharge petition, ask why." (Massie has the support, amusingly, of none other than Theo Von, which isn't exactly that politically useful but does show some interesting winds shifting.)
