Rep. Greg Stanton of Arizona is strongly condemning House Speaker Mike Johnson for extending Congress' summer vacation by one week, claiming the action was taken to avoid a potentially awkward vote on the release of government documents related to convicted sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein.
"There's a lot of work to do, but Speaker Johnson just shut down the House for 6 weeks," Greg Stanton said, then asking: "Why? To block a vote on a bipartisan bill to release the Epstein files."
What started off as a standard five-week summer break that unpredictably extended to six weeks is the source of the conflict. Speaker Mike Johnson told members as recently as Monday that he had no plans to send lawmakers home early, despite the House Republican leadership's initial intention to finish legislative business this week before the break began.
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"Right now Congress should be working on lowering cost for the American people… instead I'm heading to the airport. Mike Johnson, the speaker, is sending us home early all because they refuse to vote on the Epstein files," Stanton stated when leaving the Capitol earlier than expected.
However, as pressure over the Epstein files issue increased, Republican Mike Johnson quickly changed his mind. Republican leaders abruptly changed the chamber's schedule Tuesday, telling members that the week's last vote would take place Wednesday afternoon instead of Thursday as originally planned.
The problem started in the House Rules Committee, which decides what bills get voted on. Democrats threatened to keep forcing votes on releasing the Epstein files. Rather than face those embarrassing votes, Republican leaders decided to shut down the committee for the week.
Instead of trying to move any legislation forward this week, Republican leadership decided to call off the Rules Committee due to the possibility of potentially affecting votes. No proposals could move past Wednesday for floor votes unless the committee approved formal procedures.
For more than a week, the Epstein controversy has taken over conversations on Capitol Hill, with Trump's MAGA base demanding that all documents associated with Epstein be fully disclosed. Although it seemed to be dissipating in recent days, the Justice Department's announcement Tuesday morning that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will meet with Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein associate, brought the matter back to the public's attention.
Speaker Johnson, who just last week spoke out for transparency on a far-right podcast, is now in an awkward position as a result of the situation.
"The president has said clearly, and he has now ordered his DOJ to do what it is we've all needed DOJ to do for years now, and that is to get everything released. So they're in the process of that. There's no purpose for Congress to push an administration to do something that they're already doing. And so this is for political games." Johnson said.
According to Stanton, Congress lost the chance to address the urgent economic issues that American families are facing because of the extended recess.
"The American people deserve to know the truth. Release the Epstein files and let's get back to doing the people's work in Congress," Stanton stated.
