The Epstein files the Justice Department has been publishing in batches are court-ordered releases of interview transcripts, emails, visitor logs and investigative materials, required by a law Congress passed in late 2025 with near-unanimous support. Rep. Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who forced that law to a vote, says the department is not complying with it. He has accused the DOJ of failing to disclose all the documents and of making unnecessary redactions in what it has released.
In July 2026 he introduced a follow-up bill, the Epstein Files Transparency Act II. According to his office, it would give state attorneys general, victims and members of Congress standing to challenge the Justice Department in court for “failure to comply” with the first law.
Because House leadership has not scheduled a vote, Massie is again using a discharge petition, which forces a floor vote if a majority of members sign it. As of September 3, 2026 the petition had 106 signatures: 104 Democrats and two Republicans, Massie and Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who has also cosponsored the bill. It needs 218.
The arithmetic is the story. The House stands at 218 Republicans to 214 Democrats with one independent, so the petition cannot succeed without Republicans crossing over. “We need four Republicans, myself and three others,” Massie said. “We've already got Nancy Mace and myself. I think we'll get two other Republicans.” He noted that nearly every Republican voted for the original bill, which makes the reluctance to sign this petition a measure of something other than opposition to transparency (see Blanche Goes on Fox News and Redefines 2.5 Million Unreleased Epstein Pages as 'Not Epstein Files' While 15 Survivors Push Back and A CBS Review Finds the Epstein Release Has Only a Handful of Emails From His Early-2000s Account, From the Years He Was in Touch With Trump).
Update (September 19, 2026): the petition is close to the threshold, and the count in earlier versions of this entry is out of date. The House Clerk's official roll for Discharge Petition No. 27 shows 216 signatures, two short of the 218 needed. Four Republicans have signed: Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace, Ralph Norman and Brian Fitzpatrick, who signed on September 16 as the 216th name. Rep. Ro Khanna says two Democrats who were out sick will sign when the House returns on September 21.
Because the House left early, no vote is possible before November 9 regardless of the signature count.