The Senate on Tuesday passed without delay to a bill that will mandate the disclosure of investigative files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after a almost unanimous vote in the House of Representatives and a change of position by the president and his Republican allies. The administration relented after an extended period of trying to delay the cross-party initiative involving a controversy that has plagued the president since his return to the White House.
Swift Passage in Congress
Senators proceeded by consensus, which needs acceptance from each senator but does not require a individual voting process, expediting the process. Hours earlier, the House voted decisively for the bill on a near-unanimous vote.
“The American people have been patient long enough. Jeffrey Epstein’s victims have waited patiently,” the Senate Democratic leader declared in a Senate remarks on Tuesday, before urging the Senate to approve it without opposition. “Uncover the facts. Ensure full disclosure.”
Next Steps
The measure next heads to the president for his signature. Trump signaled on Monday that he would endorse the legislation.
Although Trump has for months dismissed the outcry over the authorities' approach of the scandal as a “Democrat hoax”, he voiced approval for the measure over the past few days, and announced he would give his assent if it comes to him.
Response
Opposition lawmakers, along with those affected and their advocates who were seated in a public section, broke into applause after the bill was approved. Lone dissent came from a Louisiana Republican, who said he feared the measure would disclose specific data of people, persons of interest and others implicated in the investigation.
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