House passes bill to reopen government, Trump plans to sign measure after dinner with Wall Street bankers
The House voted 222-209 to approve legislation to fund the government through the end of January, meaning the longest government shutdown in US history will end on Wednesday night, once Donald Trump finishes his dinner with Wall Street bankers and signs the measure into law.
Six Democrats voted for the measure and two Republicans voted against it.
The Democrats who supported the bill were: Jared Golden of Maine, Adam Gray of California, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Don Davis of North Carolina, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Tom Suozzi of New York.
The two Republicans to oppose it were Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Greg Steube of Florida.
The debate over the measure was heated, as many Democrats voiced fury that the Senate-brokered compromise failed to extend expiring healthcare subsidies.
Key events
US House begins voting on bill to end government shutdown
After debate closed with a long speech decrying the legislation from Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, and a short speech blaming Democrats from the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, the House is now voting on a temporary spending bill that would reopen the government, ending the 42-day shutdown.
Trump plans to sign legislation to reopen the government at 9.45pm ET on live TV
The White House just told reporters that the plan is for Donald Trump to sign the legislation to reopen the federal government at 9.45pm ET, on live television.
Perhaps not coincidentally, that would put the president in the spotlight during his ally Sean Hannity’s primetime show on Fox.
In the meantime, we are watching for the House to end debate and vote on the Senate bill, as Trump hosts a private White House dinner for Wall Street executives, reportedly including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Larry Fink of BlackRock, Ted Pick of Morgan Stanley, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone and Henry Kravis of KKR.
House will vote next week on measure to compel full release of the Epstein files, says speaker
Chris Stein
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson plans to put a bill compelling the release of government files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on the House floor next week.
The speaker opposes the bill, as does Donald Trump. But all Democrats, along with four Republicans, put the required 218 signatures on to a discharge petition requiring it be brought up for a vote in the House of Representatives.
Per the chamber’s rules, Johnson likely would not have been required to hold a vote on it until early December, but he told reporters he will move forward with it next week.
“We are gonna put that on the floor for [a] full vote next week, soon as we get back,” the speaker told reporters, as the chamber gathered to debate legislation to reopen the government.
Epstein died in 2019, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, in what the government declared was a suicide. Though Trump has long flirted with conspiracy theories alleging that he was at the center of a larger plot to procure minors for global elites, the justice department earlier this year announced that it would release no further details about the case, prompting an uproar for files related to the investigation into his activities be made public.
Even if the bill passes the House, it still needs to get through the Senate and be signed by Trump. Senate leaders have shown no indication they will bring it up for a vote, and Trump has decried the effort as a “Democrat hoax”.
House Republicans vow to repeal provision allowing Senate Republicans to sue federal government over January 6 investigation
A number of House Republicans have balked at a provision of the spending bill they plan to vote on tonight that would allow Senate Republicans to sue the federal government over their phone records being subpoenaed as part of the federal investigation into Donald Trump’s effort to remain in office despite losing the 2020 presidential election.
That provision was inserted in the Senate at the instruction of the Republican Senate majority leader, John Thune, to placate senators whose records were gathered by the special counsel who indicted Trump, Jack Smith.
“It is unconscionable that what we are debating right now is legislation that will give eight members of the United States Senate over $1m apiece, and we are robbing people of their food assistance and of their healthcare to pay for it,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democratic representative, said in a floor speech drawing attention to the provision. “How is this even on the floor? How can we as members of Congress, Republican or Democrat, vote to enrich ourselves by stealing from the American people?”
Rather than remove the provision from the bill, which would delay reopening the government by returning the legislation to the Senate, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, said he plans to introduce “standalone legislation to repeal this provision that was included by the Senate in the government funding bill. We are putting this legislation on the fast track suspension calendar in the House for next week.”
John Rose, a Republican congressman from Tennessee, shared the text of that bill on social media, with the comment: “I just introduced a bill to repeal the Senate’s last minute provision allowing Senators to sue American taxpayers over Biden DOJ investigations, past or future. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Lindsey Graham, one of the Republican senators whose records were obtained by Smith’s investigators, told reporters in South Carolina that he intends to take advantage of the provision by filing a lawsuit. “Oh definitely,” Graham said. “And if you think I’m going to settle this thing for a million dollars? No. I want to make it so painful, no one ever does this again.”
Chris Stein
The Senate-passed government funding bill just cleared a pair of procedural votes in the House of Representatives on party lines, with no signs yet of significant GOP defections, or Democratic support for the measure.
It’s a good sign for Republican House speaker Mike Johnson’s hopes of getting the bill through the chamber this evening.
That said, some members may vote differently when the measure comes up for passage, and there appear to be four lawmakers who are absent, though they may still show up.
Republican leadership has said to expect the final vote to take place around 8pm ET.
Epstein survivors call for House vote to require ‘full release of the Epstein files’
Survivor of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell voiced their support on Wednesday for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a proposed law that would require the full release of files from the federal investigation into the sex-trafficking of girls by two of Donald Trump’s former associates.
Annie Farmer, one of the survivors, released the following statement on Wednesday, after the release of emails from 2011 in which Epstein and Maxwell suggested Trump was aware of the abuse:
“The more information that comes out about Jeffrey Epstein, the more questions we’re left with. Survivors deserve more than a trickle of information – it’s time to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and for a full release of the Epstein files. The estimated one thousand women and girls who were harmed by Epstein and his associates deserve full transparency, as do the American people.”
Jennifer Freeman, a lawyer who represents a number of survivors, including Farmer’s sister Maria, also urged Congress to pass the legislation requiring the release of the files. “For decades, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell have been left in the dark, the government ignored or cast aside survivor reports of Epstein and Maxwell’s crimes, and the vast majority of people who were implicated have yet to be held responsible,” Freeman said in a statement. “There’s no time to waste – we urge lawmakers to do their part and vote on releasing the Epstein files once and for all.”
Maria Farmer is suing the federal government alleging that it failed to protect her and other victims of Epstein and Maxwell.
Farmer first reported Epstein and Maxwell to federal authorities in the 1990s. Because her report of the abuse was not acted on for years, many more girls and young women were abused.
“The release of the Epstein files would mark a long-awaited step towards justice for Farmer and all those terrorized by Epstein and Maxwell,” a public relations firm representing the victims said.
Chris Stein
Stepping up to the podium at the Congressional Hispanic caucus’s press conference, newly minted Democratic congresswoman Adelita Grijalva criticized the House speaker, Mike Johnson, for making her wait so long to start the job, and said she’d propose legislation to make sure no one else has to wait so long.
“Let’s understand very clearly that if I were a Republican, I would not have waited this long. If I were a man, I would not have waited this long. We all know that the rules are always different for women of color and people of color, and we have to fight against that. There is no way that this can ever happen again to anyone at all,” she said.
Grijalva hit out at Johnson, saying he “purposefully obstructed” her swearing-in by cancelling votes in the House, and “would placate and make misogynistic comments about what I should and should not be doing” while she waited for him to end the lengthy recess. Johnson insisted on keeping the House out of session until Senate Democrats agreed to reopen the government, which a splinter group of them did earlier this week.
Chris Stein
Members of the Congressional Hispanic caucus are hammering the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, for delaying Democrat Adelita Grijalva’s swearing in.
“Today, nearly 1 million Arizonans finally, finally regain their voice that has been illegally denied to them for far too long. Two months of delay was not just unprecedented, it was unacceptable. I think it was illegal,” the caucus’s chair, Adriano Espaillat, said at a press conference convened to welcome her to the group.
Pete Aguilar, who as caucus chair is the third-highest-ranking Democrat in the House, noted that Grijalva swiftly signed the discharge petition to force a vote on a bill to release files related to disgraced financier and one-time Donald Trump friend Jeffrey Epstein.
“We all know the real reason Donald Trump and Republican leadership are hellbent on keeping the Epstein files hidden from the American people … They’re running a pedophile protection program,” he said.
“Now, with representative Grijalva in Congress, we will have the votes necessary to force transparency and accountability, and importantly, Arizonans will finally have a member who is able to carry out their work, to represent their interests and to be their voice in Congress.”
Chris Stein
The Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, waited an unprecedented 50 days to swear in Democrat Adelita Grijalva, but both he and the new congresswoman kept it civil when he administered her ceremonial oath off the chamber’s floor.
“I really like this lady. She’s going to be an excellent member of Congress. She’s a great person,” Johnson said. Referring to her late father, Raúl Grijalva, whose southern Arizona district she will now represent, he said: “I just told her, on the way in, that she fills her father’s shoes, or she’s going to try – no one can, no one can. He was a giant around here.”
“She has a proud family legacy, and we’re delighted to have her here,” he continued, before turning to the uncomfortable question of the lengthy delay she faced in actually being able to start the job she was elected to do.
“She may not agree with me, but we followed the custom of the House on the timetable, and we’ve had a little, as we say, in the deep south, some intense fellowship about that, OK. But she’s here now, and I promised that we would have the oath administered before we began legislative business, so she hasn’t missed a vote.”
Democrats may quibble with that last part, considering that in recent months, Johnson promptly sworn in two newly elected Florida Republicans, even when the House was out of session.
Petition to trigger House vote on release of Epstein files reaches required total
Shortly after Adelita Grijalva was sworn in as the newest member of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the Arizona Democrat signed a petition which should force a vote in the House on legislation to require the full release of files from the federal investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender who socialized with Donald Trump for more than a decade.
With Grijalva’s signature, 218 members of Congress now back what is known as a discharge petition, which triggers a vote on legislation without needing the approval of the House speaker.
Ro Khanna, the California Democrat who introduced the petition with his Republican colleague Thomas Massie of Kentucky, released a statement on the success of the petition to force a vote on their bipartisan bill, the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“This was made possible by the courageous survivors who have been speaking up for years,” Khanna said. “As Representative Massie and my bill heads to the floor for a vote, every member of Congress should ask themselves: are we going to stand with the survivors or the wealthy and powerful who are being protected? We must stand for transparency and justice for the survivors. We need to rebuild trust in government.”
In her speech after finally being sworn in, seven weeks after she was elected, Grijalva thanked two survivors of Epstein’s abuse who were present, and said: “Justice cannot wait another day.”
Lauren Gambino
Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva was sworn in by Mike Johnson, the US House speaker, on Wednesday, ending a seven-week standoff that prevented the incoming congresswoman from taking her seat and clearing the path for a vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.
House Democrats burst into applause on the House floor when Grijalva took the oath of office during a ceremonial swearing-in, shortly before the chamber was poised to take up legislation that would end the longest federal government shutdown in US history. The ceremony comes 49 days after Grijalva won a late September special election to succeed her father, the longtime congressman Raúl Grijalva, who died in March.
Grijalva’s arrival does more than narrow the already razor-thin Republican majority. She has vowed to become the 218th and final signature on a discharge petition that would automatically trigger a House floor vote on legislation demanding the justice department release additional files on deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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A new batch of emails released by House Democrats on the oversight committee seemed to suggest that Donald Trump was aware of Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct. In the three emails released, Epstein apparently told his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump “spent hours” at his house with one of Epstein’s victims. In two other emails to author Michael Wolff, Epstein wrote that “of course he knew about the girls”, referring to the Trump. According to the exchanges, Epstein also solicited Wolff’s advice about how he should handle Trump discussing their friendship in an interview with CNN. “I think you should let him hang himself,” Wolff writes. “If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency.”
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Later, the committee’s Republican majority countered by releasing its own tranche of 23,000 documents, accusing Democrats of “cherrypicking” the memos “to generate clickbait”. The GOP members also insisted the redacted victim that the late sex-offender refers to in his emails was actually one of his most prominent accusers – Virginia Giuffre.
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At the White House today, the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that the new correspondence released today “proves absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong”. She repeated Republicans’ claims that Giuffre was the unnamed victim. “She maintained that there was nothing inappropriate she ever witnessed, that President Trump was always extremely professional and friendly to her,” Leavitt added.
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For his part, Trump labelled the move by Democrats as “deflection” for their performance during the record-breaking government shutdown. In a post on Truth Social, the president wrote: “There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”
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The Epstein investigation is likely to receive revived interest as the House prepares to return from recess and vote on a bill to reopen the federal government, as Mike Johnson is set to swear in representative-elect Adelita Grijalva after seven weeks of waiting. The soon-to-be Democratic lawmaker is set to be the 218th signature needed on a discharge petition, a procedural tool that would force a vote on the House floor to release the full tranche of Epstein investigation records.
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While the news of the Epstein email drop dominated the day, the House is set to vote on a funding bill to finally reopen the federal government today. Republican leaders, as well as Trump, expect the bill to pass. The extension would extend government funding at current levels through January 2026, along with three year-long provisions that will fund programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the USDA and the FDA, and legislative branch operations. It would also reinstate all fired workers that were let go during the shutdown and guarantee back pay for those furloughed.
At 4pm ET, we can expect the House to reconvene after more than 50 days of recess, and for the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, to swear in representative-elect Adelita Grijalva.
Johnson has staved off the ceremony for the soon-to-be Arizona Democrat for weeks while the government shutdown continued. She’s expected to be the final, and 218th, signature needed to force a vote on the House floor for the full release of the Epstein files.
