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The House plans to vote Wednesday to repeal a provision that could award eight GOP senators hundreds of thousands of dollars for having their phone records seized without their knowledge during a Biden-era probe. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who secured the measure, is standing his ground.

“The House is going to do what they are going to do with it,” he told reporters Tuesday night. “It doesn’t apply to them.”

But many senators from both parties are eager to roll back the legislative language they didn’t know Thune secretly negotiatedwith Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the government funding package that ended the longest shutdown in history last week. Republicans could revolt if leadership doesn’t give them a vote to overturn it.

In interviews Tuesday with nearly a dozen lawmakers, confusion, frustration and anger ran rampant about what has quickly become branded as a politically toxic, taxpayer-funded windfall for a select few. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) went so far as to quip there could be “some stabbings” at the Senate GOP’s weekly lunch Wednesday when the topic will inevitably get discussed.

“Whoever put this in had an obligation to tell us about it, and they didn’t,” said Kennedy. “There’s something called trust and good faith around here.”

Even Schumer conceded the widely unpopular language should ultimately be scrapped.

“The bottom line is, Thune wanted the provision and we wanted to make sure that at least Democratic senators were protected from [Attorney General Pam] Bondi and others who might go after them,” he said Tuesday. “But I’d be for repealing all of it and I hope that happens,” he told reporters.

It’s not clear whether it’s too late to reverse course in the Senate.

The provision at issue, which President Donald Trump signed into law last week, would award senators $500,000 or more if they discover their electronic records were seized without notification.

In seeking to attach it to the funding bill, Thune was directly responding to furor from several Senate Republicans eager for retribution against former special counsel Jack Smith, who obtained the phone records for at least eight Republican senators during his investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Thune in an interview acknowledged that members would indeed discuss the issue at lunch Wednesday but reiterated that he personally was not having second thoughts about including the measure in the funding deal.

“It’s designed to protect United States senators,” Thune said. “We have a number of people who are interested in making sure that that sort of thing has a consequence if that kind of weaponization of the government along the lines of what Jack Smith did is ever employed again in the future.”

Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who claims he was targeted by the Smith probe, praised Thune for including the language. Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is confirmed to have had his records subpoenaed during the Smith investigation, has said he plans to take advantage of the provision to make it “so painful” for those involved.

Some Senate Republicans admitted they hope the language is preserved. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said he wanted the provision expanded to let a broader range of parties sue to show “how corrupt Jack Smith is.”

It’s far from certain disgruntled lawmakers would make it easy for Thune to move a standalone bill to revoke the provision, even if he decides he wants to — they could insist on controversial amendments or make the voting process drawn-out and disruptive. Nor is it clear Republicans would allow the provision to be stripped in a subsequent government funding bill.

There’s far less hand-wringing in the House, where members were criticizing the language before they even voted on the Senate-passed funding bill last Thursday.

The House Wednesday evening is expected to easily pass a bill to repeal the payout provision with support from Speaker Mike Johnson and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, who is working to get Smith to sit for a transcribed interview before his committee.

In the Senate, several lawmakers signaled Tuesday night they were anxious to distance themselves from the new policy and wanted to follow the House’s lead.

“I’m going to support repealing it,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), the chair of the legislative branch appropriations subcommittee.

He added he was not alerted about the language until after he already voted for the funding package last week and that he later received an “apologetic” call from GOP leadership over how the matter was handled. Thune confirmed that he had spoken to Mullin and that the Oklahoma Republican was not aware of the provision’s drafting.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she was likewise in the dark in advance of the vote.

“That was something that the leaders put into the bill, and I played no role in that whatsoever,” she told reporters.

Democrats made clear they would continue to pummel Republicans if Thune failed to take action.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the ranking member on the legislative branch appropriations subcommittee, said he was “furious” with leadership and has since introduced a bill to pare back the provision.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), another senior appropriator, said in an interview his party was “going to make every effort to try to reverse that pretty serious mistake.”

“I guess there’s an argument that it offers some future protection, but that’s not what the provision is about,” he said. “The provision is about a cash payout to Republican senators, plain and simple.”

Jennifer Scholtes and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Republicans are pushing ahead with an investigation into the activities of Jeffrey Epstein — even as legislation forcing the release of all Department of Justice files on the late sex offender appears to be heading to President Donald Trump for a signature.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a series of subpoenas Tuesday for some of Epstein’s financial records.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the committee, issued subpoenas to J.P. Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank and requested additional documents from U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Gordon Rhea.

According to the subpoenas, J.P. Morgan Chase began an internal investigation into accounts previously held by Epstein, flagging some 4,700 transactions as “suspicious” in the process. Epstein also held accounts at and banked with Deutsche Bank from 2013 until potentially late 2018, the subpoenas state.

The letter to Rhea comes after documents released last week reveal that Del. Stacey Plaskett consulted with Epsteinduring a 2019 hearing with President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Epstein previously owned the islands of Little St. James and Great St. James. The House on Tuesday will vote to censure Plaskett and remove her from the House Intelligence Committee.

“The records sought by this subpoena will assist in the Committee’s oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell,” the subpoenas to the banks read.

The subpoenas were announced just after the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to force the Justice Department to release more information about the case it built against Epstein.

The new Utah congressional map, which creates a safe-blue district, will force the four current Republican members of the delegation to compete for three GOP seats.

The four Republicans have discussed possible configurations, though no final decision has been made, according to two people aware of the conversations who were granted anonymity to discuss the dynamic. The congresspeople have publicly said they will make no decision until the map is finalized, anticipating potential legal appeals.

“We’re still waiting to see if there might be one other change,” said Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah). “In the meanwhile, we’re not going to speculate.”

Leaders of the Republican-controlled Utah legislature vowed to appeal after a district judge tossed out the GOP-leaning map the legislature drew and selected a plaintiff’s map on November 10. But over a week has passed without lawmakers filing the appeal. Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz told a local TV station the deadline to appeal the 2026 map “has come and gone.”

“We don’t know what’s going to happen for 2026,” Schultz said. “We’re hoping for some miracle to come in and say, ‘No, this isn’t right.’”

If the map holds, many expect Owens, who has served since 2021, to retire, leaving Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) in the northern Utah district and Reps. Celeste Maloy and Mike Kennedy to split the other two.

“The thing we’re good at in politics in Utah that a lot of other states struggle with, is talking to each other and working together and figuring out what’s best for the state,” Maloy said. “We’re still in the process of doing that, but I’m confident we can figure it out.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he expects the Senate will pass the bill to release DOJ files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as soon as Tuesday, a move that would send it to President Donald Trump for his signature.

Thune told reporters the Senate could possibly pass it by unanimous consent, a maneuver that requires agreement from all 100 senators. The House passed it 427-1 with only Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) voting in opposition.

“My assumption is the president sounds like he’s prepared to sign it,” Thune said. “So I’d assume it would move fairly quickly over here.”

Senate leadership on Tuesday afternoon began checking the temperature of its members to see if anyone would object.

The possibility of quick action in the Senate is a shift from just last week when it was expected that the chamber would bury the Epstein bill. But Trump’s insistence that Republicans should pass it, and that he would be willing to sign it, has changed the dynamic within the Senate GOP conference.

Speaker Mike Johnson has called on the Senate to add more privacy protections for victims and whistleblowers. But Thune, pointing to the overwhelming vote total in the House, predicted that was “not likely” to happen.

Democrats have signaled they would oppose any efforts to change the bill.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer added that once the House bill gets to the Senate he will try to set up a vote on the bill, which would force Republicans to go on the record instead of letting it pass without a formal vote.

“We have an opportunity to get this bill done today and have it on the president’s desk to be signed into law tonight. We should seize that opportunity,” Schumer said.

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), the lone “no” vote on the near-unanimous House legislation to force a release of the Justice Department’s files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said on Tuesday that he opposed it on privacy grounds.

“It abandons 250 years of criminal justice procedure in America,” Higgins wrote on X. “As written, this bill reveals and injures thousands of innocent people — witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc. If enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal of criminal investigative files, released to a rabid media, will absolutely result in innocent people being hurt.”

Four hundred and twenty-seven House lawmakers — including 216 Republicans — voted in favor of the legislation on Tuesday, two days after President Donald Trump urged his party to support it on Truth Social.

The White House had spent months lobbying against the effort.

Higgins, a staunch supporter of the president, nevertheless voted against it. But this isn’t his final word on the matter, he said.

“If the Senate amends the bill to properly address privacy of victims and other Americans, who are named but not criminally implicated, then I will vote for that bill when it comes back to the House,” he said.

The Senate could soon clear the bill. Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that the chamber could potentially pass it by unanimous consent as soon as later Tuesday.

The House is set to vote on a measure censuring Democratic Del. Stacey Plaskett for being in contact with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Lawmakers sank a Democratic-led effort to send the measure to the House Ethics Committee.

Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina brought up the measure through a fast-track process bypassing Hill leadership and committees.

Documents released from Epstein’s estate showed the nonvoting delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands texting with Epstein during a congressional hearing.

The House voted to rebuke Rep. Chuy García of Illinois for announcing his retirement after the filing deadline — a maneuver that has positioned his chief of staff to be elected his successor in a reliably blue district in the 2026 midterms.

The 286-183 vote on the symbolic resolution of disapproval divided Democrats, with 23 members of the minority party ultimately voting with all Republicans to reprimand one of their own.

Four lawmakers voted “present:” Democratic Reps. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia, alongside Republican Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio.

Democrats have been hand-wringing over the matter since last week, when Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez introduced the nonbinding resolution against García through a fast-track process that allowed her to bypass leadership — and catch her colleagues off guard.

Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington is a purple-district moderate who frequently bucks the rest of her party, but her antagonism of García was seen as going a bridge too far by many Democrats who have been trying to project unity coming out of the longest-ever government shutdown.

Democratic leaders whipped against the resolution and urged members to vote against it in their closed-door caucus meeting Tuesday morning. Gluesenkamp Perez attended the meeting but didn’t speak up when leaders spoke against her effort, according to four people granted anonymity to describe the sensitive situation.

“We disagree with the resolution that’s being offered and we should be talking about issues that affect the American people,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, the third-ranking House Democrat.

Some Democrats defended García, who has denied accusations of wrongdoing and said his decision to retire earlier this month was based on his personal health and the needs of his family.

But many others said they had a hard time explaining away the fact that García’s chief of staff, Patty Garcia, filed her papers with Illinois election officials days before her boss announced his decision to retire — timing that appeared designed to clear the primary field.

Democrats who voted for the disapproval resolution, though, underscored it wasn’t personal. Gluesenkamp Perez also said Monday night she had nothing against García, but “you cannot win the right to represent people through subversion.”

Democratic leaders unsuccessfully tried Monday evening to kill the measure altogether, but Gluesenkamp Perez and Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) sided with all Republicans against doing so, forcing a final vote on the matter Tuesday afternoon.

The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to force the Justice Department to release more information about the case it built against the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — putting legislation on a track toward the desk of President Donald Trump, who spent months trying to kill it.

The 427-1 vote came after a long campaign to circumvent House Republican leaders and White House officials who fought tooth and nail to convince members of their party to oppose the measure. As Democrats sought to stoke division in the GOP over the administration’s decision to withhold further information in the Epstein case, the issue proved increasingly toxic for Republicans — and Tuesday’s vote became inevitable.

“We have a chance today to make something happen, something that has not happened and should have happened decades ago, and that is to get justice for these victims and survivors and transparency for America,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who led the effort to force the vote, later adding that he was “embarrassed for my own party today.”

Only Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), a fervent Trump loyalist, voted against it. Victims of Epstein who had gathered in the House gallery cheered as the vote closed.

The bill still requires approval from the Senate and Trump’s signature to become law. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said after the House vote the measure would move “fairly quickly” through the Senate. Trump indicated this week he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

Speaker Mike Johnson called on the Senate to add more privacy protections for victims and whistleblowers, a concern Higgins cited in explaining his vote against the bill. But that would require the bill to come back to the House for final approval, and Thune said that further changes are unlikely. There is a broad desire in the GOP to pass the bill and move on to other legislative business.

The political quagmire began for Republicans in July, when the Department of Justice released a memo saying it would not disclose further information in the Epstein case. Quickly, Democrats accused Trump and his allies of reneging on a commitment to transparency.

The pressure culminated at an otherwise routine House Oversight subcommittee hearing in July, just ahead of the chamber’s summer recess. Democratic lawmakers, joined by a few Republicans, voted to subpoena information from the Justice Department in the Epstein case — launching a wide-ranging Oversight probe into Epstein and the Justice Department’s handling of the case.

House GOP leaders have repeatedly pointed to that probe to argue that the effort led by Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Pa.) to discharge the measure from committee and force an up-or-down vote on the legislation was unnecessary. Their bill would compel only the Justice Department to release information in its possession within 30 days of its enactment.

The Oversight panel has already subpoenaed Epstein’s estate, which produced a “birthday book” and a number of emails that contained materials damaging to Trump.

Trump’s relationship with the convicted sex offender has seen intense scrutiny, with Democrats accusing him of supporting a coverup. The president has maintained the two had a falling out years ago, and no evidence has linked Trump to wrongdoing in the Epstein case.

But recent revelations in emails sent by Epstein suggested Trump “knew about the girls,” and the news has only increased pressure on his administration to release further information in the case.

The Justice Department has so far released relatively few nonpublic materials to lawmakers as part of the Oversight probe, which was partially held up by the recent 43-day government shutdown. But many GOP lawmakers doubt the bill will trigger the release of much new information from DOJ, including Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.).

“I think the Department of Justice has turned over what they’re legally allowed to turn over,” Comer said.

Now that the Massie-Khanna discharge effort has succeeded and the bill has passed the House, Senate Democrats are preparing to force Thune and his GOP members to vote quickly on the bill. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would “move for the Senate to immediately take it up and pass it, period” — suggesting he will ask unanimous approval from senators to send the bill to Trump.

“Americans are tired of waiting and are demanding to see the truth,” he said. “If Leader Thune tries to bury the bill, I’ll stop him.”

With the massive House vote and Trump saying he’ll sign the bill, there’s little stomach among Senate Republicans to further delay the measure . Democrats are expected to object to any language that waters down the legislation, or gives more discretion to Trump or DOJ on what gets released.

Prior to Trump’s endorsement of the effort, the White House carried out a monthslong pressure campaign to try to prevent the forced vote in the House from happening.

Trump and White House officials specifically pushed the three Republican women who signed onto the discharge petition — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.) and Nancy Mace (S.C.) — to take their names off the effort, especially once it was clear that the swearing-in of Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva would prompt a vote.

Boebert was even called into the White House Situation Room to try to get her to remove her name.Mace said in an interview that the floor action, after months of drama, is “also a symbolic vote for other survivors who’ve never gotten justice.”“It’s a symbolism of justice for all of us. So, I’m emotional about it right now,” she said.

Trump’s pressure campaign also included a public split with Greene, once one of his most vocal supporters in the House. Greene, who has also split with Trump recently over health care and economic matters, said her fissure with Trump “has all come down to the Epstein files.”

“This has been one of the most destructive things to MAGA — is watching the man that we supported early on, three elections,” oppose the bill, Greene told reporters Tuesday. “Watching this actually turn into a fight has ripped MAGA apart.”

Jordain Carney and Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.

Phillip Swagel, the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, told lawmakers at an oversight hearing Tuesday morning before the House Budget Committee that the “sophisticated cyberattack” against his agency two weeks ago has been contained and there is currently no “further evidence of unauthorized access to CBO email.”

It’s the first time he has spoken out publicly about the breach.

Swagel said the investigation is “extensive and ongoing” as the agency receives assistance from both federal security partners and private sector security specialists.

He stressed that as more information becomes available about the nature of the attack — including “the threat actor’s activities” and what can be done to strengthen CBO’s systems — he will provide lawmakers updates “in a closed-door setting.”

He warned that sharing some things during a public hearing “might hinder remediation or investigation” but insisted that CBO is now “operating as normal … without interruption.”

In advance of the hearing, House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington praised the CBO’s handling of the incident.

“They notified everybody, and all hands were on deck to address it, remediate it, and make sure that no further information was breached,” the Texas Republican said in an interview Monday night. “I thought they handled that responsibly and there was a great sense of urgency and concern, which is what I would expect.”

Rep. Chuy García has denied purposely clearing a path for his chief of staff to take his seat without facing a primary, but a document filed with Illinois elections officials shows he was the first to sign her nominating petitions, days before he announced his retirement.

García said Tuesday in a note to Democratic colleagues obtained by POLITICO that he “did not circulate petitions for any Congressional campaign except my own.” But that obscures his apparent knowledge of the effort by his top aide, Patty Garcia, to get on the ballot.

A petition signature page submitted by Patty Garcia to the Illinois Board of Elections shows the representative and his closest allies, whom Chuy García has also helped get elected over the years, signed their names. They include Cook County Commissioner Alma Anaya, Illinois state Sen. Celina Villanueva, state Reps. Aaron Ortiz and Norma Hernandez, and Chicago City Council members Jeylú Gutiérrez and Michael Rodriguez.

The form is dated Nov. 1, two days before the filing deadline and three days before Chuy García formally announced his retirement. Patty Garcia ultimately filed nearly 3,000 signatures toward the required 2,500 to qualify for the Democratic primary ballot. The two are not related.

Fabiola Rodriguez-Ciampoli, a spokesperson for Chuy Garcia, said signing a petition is not the same as circulating them. “He did not circulate petitions” for his chief of staff’s campaign, she said.

The House is set to vote Tuesday afternoon on a measure brought by Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) rebuking Chuy García’s move, which essentially ensured that Patty Garcia will succeed him as Democratic nominee and likely winner of the 2026 election.

Democratic leaders have signaled they are backing the veteran Chicago lawmaker and are whipping against the measure.

“We disagree with the resolution that’s being offered, and we should be talking about issues that affect the American people,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), the third-ranking House Democrat.