The U.S. House will start its summer recess a day early after leaders decided to cancel votes scheduled for Thursday.
The news comes a day after Republicans decided to scrap meetings of the Rules Committee out of concern that Democrats would force a vote on legislation to compel the release of files related to the investigation of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 while in federal detention in New York.
Without Rules meetings, the only legislation that can come to the floor are noncontroversial bills that can be fast-tracked but require a two-thirds majority for passage. Without much to vote on, House Speaker Mike Johnson decided to send members home early.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, said the decision to start the recess early increases the likelihood that Republicans lawmakers will again have to cut a deal with Democrats on stopgap government funding legislation, known as a continuing resolution, to avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1.
She said she won’t stand for that.
“Why are we going on August recess if we haven’t finished appropriations?” she said to reporters.
Greene, a frequent Johnson critic, said she told the speaker and other GOP leaders during a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning she will not help them pass temporary government funding.
“I walked in and told them to their face,” she said. “I think it’s the best way to handle it.”
While Johnson and other GOP leaders blamed Democrats, accusing them of hijacking the legislative process to grandstand on the Epstein controversy, Greene is among the conservative lawmakers who have pushed for the release of the documents and who were critical of the decision to cancel votes to avoid the conversation.
Greene has also signed up to cosponsor legislation backed by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie and California Democrat Ro Khanna that would force the Trump administration to immediately release Epstein documents. Massie and Khanna are collecting signatures from colleagues in hopes of forcing a vote on their legislation, but that is unlikely to happen before October.
In an attempt at a compromise, House Republicans last week moved forward with a nonbinding resolution introduced by U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, that would have requested that the files be made public. But Johnson said he would not put that measure on the floor this week after Trump indicated he had directed his team, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, to seek the release of grand jury testimony.
Trump has downplayed the controversy and criticized Republicans who were pushing for the release of the Epstein files. But Greene said she is only responding to her constituents and supporters whose concerns she said have only increased in recent days.
“The call volume has almost been 100% Epstein since this started,” she said. “And they are demanding transparency.”
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
