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Did The House Just Dodge The Epstein Vote?
On 1 September 2026, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) filed a discharge petition with Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) to force a House vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act II. He then predicted Speaker Mike Johnson would send the House home rather than hold the vote. Johnson went on television and called that prediction stupid, saying the House would work every day.
Two days later, House Republican leaders cancelled the weeks of 21 and 28 September. The House leaves on 17 September and does not return until after the election.
The first Epstein Files Transparency Act passed the House 427-1 and was signed into law on 19 November 2025. On 30 January 2026 the Justice Department published roughly 3.5 million pages, 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, reported as the last major batch. The sponsors say the department is still unlawfully withholding more than 3 million files.
So the second bill adds what the first one lacked: enforcement. It would give state attorneys general, members of Congress and Epstein's victims standing to sue the Justice Department for unlawfully withholding, redacting, delaying, concealing or failing to publish records, and would let victims obtain the full unredacted records concerning themselves.
A discharge petition needs 218 signatures. Massie, a Republican, says he needs four more Republicans.
Note: House leadership did not state that the recess was about Epstein. This video reports the sequence and the dates. Rep. Khanna has publicly accused Speaker Johnson of calling the recess to avoid the legislation.
VIDEO: Licensed stock (Mixkit) only. THUMBNAIL: 2013 booking photograph of Jeffrey Epstein - a law-enforcement work in the public domain.
The claim (title-grade)
Massie predicted the Speaker would send the House home to avoid a second Epstein vote. The Speaker called that prediction stupid on television. Two days later House leaders cancelled the last two working weeks of September. The House leaves on 17 September.
Verified facts
⚠ The signature count is MOVING and snapshots conflict (79 → 106 across early-September reports). The reel therefore uses only the STABLE, sourced framing: the 218 threshold and "needs four Republicans." Do NOT state a running total — it will be stale within a day.
⚠ Do not confuse this with the 2025 petition for EFTA I, which DID reach 218 (Grijalva's was the 218th signature, November 2025). That one succeeded. This is the SECOND bill and a SECOND petition.
Sources
Washington Times · Mediaite · The New Republic · Daily Beast · Newsweek · NPR · DOJ Office of Public Affairs · Rep. Khanna and Sen. Merkley press releases · Common Dreams · clerk.house.gov
References
Reporting drawn from Washington Times · Mediaite · The New Republic · Newsweek · NPR · DOJ Office of Public Affairs · and the Khanna and Merkley press releases · DOJ Office of Public
What the reel says
Narration as scripted and voiced.
On the 1st of September, a Republican congressman filed a petition to force a vote on the Epstein files. Then he made a prediction
He said the speaker would send the House home before that vote could happen
The speaker went on television and called the prediction stupid. He said the house would work every day
Two days later, Republican leaders canceled the last two working weeks of September
The House leaves on the 17th and does not come back until after the election
The bill is the Epstein Files Transparency Act 2
The first one passed the House four hundred and twenty-seven to one and was signed into law last November
In January, the Justice Department published about three and a half million pages, two thousand videos, and a hundred and eighty thousand images and called it the last big batch
The sponsors say it is still withholding more than three million files
So the second bill does something the first one did not. It lets people sue
State attorneys general, members of Congress, and Epstein's victims could take the Justice Department to court for withholding records. Victims could demand the unredacted files about themselves
To force the vote, the petition needs two hundred and eighteen signatures
Massie is a Republican. He says he needs four more Republicans
He has until Wednesday. After that, the building is empty until the election
