The Senate agreed by unanimous consent Tuesday to approve a House-passed bill to require the Justice Department to release all unclassified records and documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, sending the bill to President Trump’s desk for a signature.
The swift Senate action ends the protracted battle in Congress over the files, which caused months of turmoil in the House and gave Democrats political ammo to accuse Republicans of protecting rich and powerful people who participated in Epstein’s illicit activities.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) on Tuesday evening received unanimous consent to approve the Epstein Files Transparency Act upon receipt of the legislation from the House, only hours after the lower chamber voted 427-1 to approve it.
The Democratic leader received approval from all 99 of his colleagues to “deem” the bill “passed” as soon as the Senate receives the legislation from the House. Senate aides said they expected that formality to happen Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
Schumer secured approval to quickly send the legislation to President Trump’s desk after the Senate Republican cloakroom ran a hotline to see if there were any objections on the Republican side of the aisle.
After months of arguing that the Justice Department had already made thousands of Epstein-related documents public and that Congress didn’t have the authority to direct the executive branch to release sensitive files, not a single Republican objected.
“The Senate has now passed the Epstein bill as soon as it comes over from the House,” Schumer declared triumphantly on the floor.
Deeming a major House-approved bill as passed as soon it’s received in the Senate is an extremely rare procedural move that shows Republican senators weren’t eager to vote on the matter after months of party infighting over it.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) issued a statement immediately after the floor action to demand that everyone who was involved in Epstein’s illegal operation be “brought to justice.”
“We need to enforce transparency and integrity at the highest levels of government. It’s past time that all involved in Epstein’s illegal operation be brought to justice, so the survivors of these awful crimes can have closure,” she said.
The swift action shows the lack of appetite among Republican senators to spend much time on the controversial issue, which twisted the House GOP conference into knots for months.
Trump says he will sign the legislation, after spending months discrediting it, a sign that the wave of public support for greater disclosure of what the Justice Department has collected from its investigations of Epstein had become too strong to oppose in Washington.
“I’m all for it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, calling the Epstein scandal “really a Democrat problem.”
Democrats have accused Trump for months of trying to keep thousands of files secret to hide incriminating information implicating rich and powerful friends.
Senate Republican aides said earlier in the week that the upper chamber could wait until December to take up the measure, amid a desire among some Republicans to amend the legislation to protect the identities of innocent third parties as well as classified information.
The momentum to pass the bill through the Senate quickly, however, became overwhelming after the House passed it by a margin of 427 to 1. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) cast the only “no” vote, arguing it would damage innocent people, including witnesses.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said the resounding vote in the House undercut calls to amend the legislation, something that could have delayed it for weeks or months.
“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 in the cards,” Thune told reporters.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who voted for the legislation earlier Tuesday, accused Democrats of using it to score political points and urged Senate Republicans to make changes to it to “make sure we don’t do permanent damage to the political system.”
Johnson’s pleas fell flat after Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.), the lead Republican co-sponsor of the bill, warned the Senate, “Do not muck it up.”
“We fought the president, the attorney general, the FBI director, the Speaker of the House and the vice president to get this win. They’re on our side today, so let’s give them some credit as well,” Massie said at a press conference outside the Capitol.
“Don’t muck it up in the Senate. Don’t get too cute. We’re all paying attention,” Massie said, standing with a group of Epstein’s victims near the Capitol’s steps.
He warned that if senators added any language that “prevents any disclosure, you are not for the people and you are not part of this effort.”
Thune told reporters that Senate lawyers closely examined Speaker Johnson’s concerns but ultimately decided the bill was “sufficient.”
“Our lawyers had obviously looked closely at some of the issues and had concluded that the bill was sufficient to accomplish what needed to be done here,” he said.
He said Republicans agreed to deem the bill passed once it reaches the Senate in an “attempt to move it quickly.”
The House passed the legislation days after a discharge petition circulated by Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), the lead Democratic sponsor, garnered 218 signatures to force it to the floor.
Newly elected Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) provided the 218th and decisive signature on the discharge petition after Johnson delayed her swearing-in for weeks by refusing to convene the House while the government was shut down for more than 40 days because of a fight over health insurance premium subsidies.
Four Republicans signed the petition — Massie and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colo.) — to help turn the tide in favor of the legislation.
Trump paved the way for the overwhelming vote in the House by urging Republican lawmakers over the weekend to vote for the measure — a stunning about-face after months of dismissing the push to force greater disclosure of the files as a “hoax.”
“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein file, because we have nothing to hide, and its time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics,” the president posted on Truth Social on Saturday night.
It was a surprising declaration after the president had reportedly ramped up his pressure campaign on congressional Republicans to hold off from voting on the matter.
Trump called Boebert on the phone a week ago, before Johnson was scheduled to swear in Grijalva, and also reached out to Mace, though he was unable to connect with her, according to The New York Times.
Only two Republican senators — Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Rand Paul (Ky.) — voted on Sept. 10 for an amendment sponsored by Schumer to direct the Justice Department to release all unclassified files related to Epstein.
Schumer forced a vote on the matter by seizing an opportunity in the Senate’s agenda after Thune didn’t file a procedural motion to block colleagues from offering amendments.
This story was updated at 5:58 p.m.
