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ALERT! - Epstein Bill Switch-A-Roo (UPDATED) [1]

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Date: 2025-11-18  

Sorry if a panicked folks by the headline, because this is not really something to panic about. It is just something I think the DK Community should be aware of.

If you listened to David Waldman’s radio show this morning you would have learned that the Epstein legislation to be voted on in the House today is NOT Tom Massie’s House Resolution- H. Res. 581 which is associated with the Discharge Petition. It is the Bill introduced by Democrat Ro Khana H.R. 4405 - the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Now there is good news, or at least not bad news with regard to the this substitution with regard to the content of these pieces of legislation. According to David Waldman they are pretty much identical although Ro Khana’s may have some additional protections against improper redacting or omitting, although neither he nor I have done a thorough comparison of the two Bills. This makes sense since why would a Democrat bill be more favorable to Trump than a Republican Bill.

There is both good and bad news in this substitution in terms of House procedure.

The Bill is being brought up under what is known as “Suspension of the Rules”. The good news in that is that it bypasses the Rules Committee where it could have been altered by the committee and it cannot be amended on the House floor, so it can’t be watered down. The bad news it will require a 2/3s vote of the House to pass or 290 votes instead of the 218 required for a simple majority. That means we need at least 76 Republicans to vote for it, instead of just 4 for it to pass.

Now don’t panic, chances are they that we will get more than 76 Republicans voting yes. Especially after Trump released them to do so by his inexplicable comment the other day. If not, don’t worry, there is a Plan B.

You see the Massie Bill which was liberated by the 218 signatures on the Discharge Petition is still out there. It is just waiting for the 7 Legislative Days required under the Discharge Petition rules (7 days where the House is in session) to click by (I believe after today there are 4 left. After which it must be brought to the floor by the Speaker within 2 legislative days for a simple majority vote. Johnson has no option.

So what Johnson is hoping to achieve by this last minute switch-a-roo is a mystery to me. I will leave you to speculate in the comments.

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