Republican Representative Thomas Massie says he will secure the signatures needed to force a House vote on a second Epstein files bill when Congress returns to Washington on Monday, 9 November.

Massie, who sponsored the original Epstein Files Transparency Act, wrote on X on Thursday: "When we return next week, we'll get 218 signatures for Epstein Files Transparency Act II, which guarantees a vote." He added: "Survivors will be able to get their own records, State Attorneys General can prosecute crimes, and we can take the DOJ to court for keeping critical files hidden."

The bill is being advanced through a discharge petition, a procedure that allows a majority of the House to bring legislation to the floor without the support of party leadership. A petition signed by 218 members, a majority of the 435-seat chamber, forces a vote.

The petition, Discharge Petition No. 27, was filed by Massie on 31 August to move House Resolution 1430, the rule carrying the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, out of the Rules Committee. The Clerk of the House's record shows 216 names on the petition: 212 Democrats and four Republicans. The four Republicans are Massie, Nancy Mace, Ralph Norman and Brian Fitzpatrick, who signed on 16 September, the day before the Speaker sent the House home for seven weeks.

The last signature on the petition is dated 16 September. Nothing has moved since, because members can only sign while the House is in session, and the chamber has not met since then. The House meets at noon on Monday, 9 November, the first moment anything can change.

Two Democrats have not yet signed. John Garamendi of California and Adam Smith of Washington were ill when the chamber adjourned in September. Both have said they will sign when the House returns, which would take the total to 218.

Even if the petition reaches 218 on Monday, a vote will not follow at once. Under House Rule XV, the motion must sit on the Discharge Calendar for seven legislative days before anyone can act on it. Against the published calendar, with the House in session from 9 to 12 November and from 16 to 20 November, the seventh legislative day falls on 19 November, or 20 November if the House does not sit on Veterans Day.

Three votes would then be needed. The motion to discharge gets 20 minutes of debate. If it carries, the House takes up House Resolution 1430 and votes on adopting it. Only then does the bill itself come up, with one hour of debate, no amendments, one motion to recommit and a vote on passage. On the paper schedule, the earliest realistic passage vote is between 20 November and 1 December, with the first week of December the likeliest.

The bill, H.R. 9694, was introduced on 15 July by Massie alongside Democratic Representatives Ro Khanna of California and Teresa Leger Fernandez of New Mexico. It would give Epstein survivors access to their own records, allow state attorneys general to prosecute crimes, and let survivors, state officials and members of Congress sue the Justice Department over withheld records.

The first Epstein Files Transparency Act passed the House 427-1 in November 2025 and was signed into law by President Donald Trump on 19 November that year. It required the Justice Department to release millions of files relating to the Jeffrey Epstein. The department has since released more than three million pages, but Massie and Khanna argue that millions of files are still being withheld.

The new bill is written to close the gaps the sponsors say the department has used. It names the Attorney General and the FBI Director, by office, in a criminal-penalty clause for withholding records or making false certifications after enactment. It bars the use of the deliberative-process privilege and removes the classified-information shield from the original law.

The Senate faces its own questions. The companion bill, S. 5005, introduced by Senators Jeff Merkley and Ben Ray Lujan on 15 July, has been referred to the Judiciary Committee. Seventeen state attorneys general have asked Senate Majority Leader John Thune to take up the measure. The Senate could also take up a House-passed bill directly, as it did last year by unanimous consent, but that consent fails if a single senator objects.

Time is short. The House is scheduled to stop voting on 17 December, and a discharge motion is not privileged during the last six days of a session. Every pending bill and discharge petition dies with the 119th Congress; the 120th Congress convenes on 3 January, and the bill would have to be introduced again from the start.

Massie, who lost his primary in May, leaves office on 3 January. All four remain full members until noon on 3 January, so the petition stands.