A petition to force a House vote on a second Epstein files bill reached 218 signatures on Wednesday, Nov. 11, enough under House rules to bring the bill toward a floor vote without action by the Rules Committee. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., added the 218th name, a day after Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., signed as the 217th, according to the House Clerk's record of the petition.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., filed it Aug. 31. Of the 218 signers, 214 are Democrats and four are Republicans: Massie, Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
What the bill would do
The petition targets H.Res. 1430, a rule that would bring up a bill titled the Epstein Files Transparency Act II. It would add an enforcement section to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law signed on Nov. 19, 2025, that ordered the Justice Department to publish its unclassified Epstein records within 30 days.
The 2025 law has two working sections, one ordering the release and one requiring a report to Congress, and no provision for lawsuits to enforce it. The new bill would let state attorneys general, district attorneys and Epstein's victims take the U.S. attorney general to court over records the department holds back or blacks out without justification. They could sue in Washington or in a federal court in their own state and ask for court orders and money damages, plus attorney's fees. Judges would have to move those cases quickly.
Victims would also get a right to see the full, unredacted records about themselves, including FBI interview reports known as FD-302s, although the department could still black out information that identifies other victims and no victim could obtain another victim's files.
State prosecutors would not have to go through the Justice Department's usual process for outside requests for its records, known as the Touhy regulations, to get files covered by the law.
What happens next
Under House rules, a petition with a majority of the House's members goes into the House Journal and onto a special calendar. After it has sat there for at least seven legislative days, any member who signed can announce plans to call it up, and the speaker must schedule it within two legislative days. Debate is capped at 20 minutes. Then the House votes.
If that motion passes, the House takes up H.Res. 1430 right away. Adopting the rule would bring the bill to the floor with one hour of debate, split between the leaders of the Judiciary Committee, followed by a final vote. The resolution also tells the clerk to send the bill to the Senate within one calendar day of passage.
Even if the House passes the bill, it would still need Senate approval and the president's signature to become law.
