The Senate on this Tuesday gave swift approval to a measure that will require the publication of case documents associated with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after a near-unanimous vote in the US House of Representatives and a shift by the president and his GOP allies. The administration changed course after months of trying to forestall the joint action involving a case that has plagued the president since his return to the White House.
Swift Approval in Congress
The Senate acted by consensus, which requires approval from each senator but avoids a formal roll call vote, expediting the process. Just before, the House voted decisively for the bill on a near-unanimous vote.
“The American people have waited long enough. Jeffrey Epstein’s victims have suffered long enough,” Chuck Schumer said in a address to the chamber on Tuesday, before urging the chamber to adopt it by consent. “Uncover the facts. Allow openness to prevail.”
Presidential Signature
This legislation next goes to Donald Trump for his signature. Trump stated on the previous day that he would sign the measure.
Though the president has for an extended period dismissed the controversy over the official management of the scandal as a “political stunt”, he voiced approval for the legislation over the weekend, and said he would give his assent if it is presented to him.
Response
Opposition lawmakers, along with victims and their advocates who were seated in a House gallery, cheered after the bill was approved. Lone dissent came from a Louisiana Republican, who said he worried the measure would reveal specific data of witnesses, those under scrutiny and others caught up in the investigation.
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