Senate Agrees to Pass Bill on Epstein Files

A bill to force the Justice Department to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein is set to reach President Trump's desk after passing the House with near-unanimous consent. Hours after the House vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer offered a motion that secured unanimous consent to deem the legislation passed, the Washington Post reports. "That means as soon as it arrives from the House, it automatically passes the Senate (with no amendments) and heads to the President's desk," Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said in a post on X.

Earlier Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune predicted there would be no objections from Republicans, Politico reports. "My assumption is the president sounds like he's prepared to sign it," Thune told reporters. "So I'd assume it would move fairly quickly over here." House Speaker Mike Johnson, who long tried to block the Epstein Files Transparency Act but ended up voting for it, described the bill as "deeply flawed" on Tuesday and said he would speak to Thune about making amendments. Thune, however, said amendments were unlikely, the Hill reports. "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," the Republican said.

In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said he wasn't concerned about the bill, the Guardian reports. "I don't care when the Senate passes the House Bill, whether tonight, or at some other time in the near future, I just don't want Republicans to take their eyes off all of the Victories that we've had," he said.