A Democratic effort to compel a vote on the release of documents tied to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein fell short in the House on Tuesday.
Democrats had urged lawmakers to vote against a typically procedural motion — known as ordering the previous question — which, if defeated, would have opened the floor to Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-Calif.) amendment. That proposal would have directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to preserve, compile, and publish the Epstein records.
The Epstein files have become a flashpoint in Washington recently, particularly within the Republican ranks, where grassroots MAGA activists have demanded their release — even as former President Donald Trump has pushed allies to move on from the issue.
The motion at hand is a routine procedural mechanism usually split along party lines, with the majority party voting to approve it and the minority voting against it. But it’s also the minority’s last procedural tool to bring an alternative proposal — in this case, the Epstein files amendment — to a vote.
In the end, Republicans stuck together and voted to approve the motion, narrowly passing it by a 211–210 vote, blocking Democrats from forcing the Epstein records onto the floor for debate.
Democrats sought to reframe the procedural move as a test of whether Republicans would back transparency — or side with Trump.
“Republicans spent years screaming for the Epstein Files to be released. Now Donald Trump wants to hide them,” wrote Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) on X (formerly Twitter). “Today, every R can vote to release the files. Will they give the American people transparency or block the truth to protect Trump?”