After all the hubbub, one might call the Senate’s latest move anti-climactic, but the upper chamber agreed by unanimous consent late Tuesday afternoon to approve the bill passed by the House earlier in the day to require the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.
No Senate Republicans blocked an attempt to force a vote on a resolution that would compel the release of documents and files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made good on his vow to force a vote on the resolution just hours after it passed through the House behind a near unanimous wave of support.
Schumer argued on the floor that the Senate “should pass this bill as soon as possible, as written and without a hint of delay.”
READ MORE: Breaking: House Votes on Epstein Files Release
Trump Calls Democrats’ Bluff, Demands Republicans Release the Epstein Files
And so they did.
Senate agrees by unanimous consent to approve the House-passed bill requiring the Justice Department to release the Epstein files.
— CSPAN (@cspan) Nov 17, 2025
Okay, technically, the House vote was not unanimous — it was 427-1, with Republican Rep. Clay Higgins (LA-3) the lone holdout, asserting:
I have been a principled “NO” on this bill from the beginning. What was wrong with the bill three months ago is still wrong today. It abandons 250 years of criminal justice procedure in America. 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. Not by my vote. The Oversight Committee is conducting a thorough investigation that has already released well over 60,000 pages of documents from the Epstein case. That effort will continue in a manner that provides all due protections for innocent Americans. 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.
Higgins’ misgivings notwithstanding, the bill will head straight to President Trump’s desk as soon as the House sends it over to the Senate. The president has already indicated he’ll sign the bill.
So then, the question becomes: What happens next? Well, per the text of the bill, the attorney general is required to, within 30 days, “make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys’ Offices” pertaining to Epstein, subject to certain exceptions set out in subsection “c” of the bill:
(1) The Attorney general may withhold or redact the segregable portions of records that—
- (A) contain personally identifiable information of victims or victims’ personal and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
- (B) depict or contain child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) as defined under 18 U.S.C. 2256 and prohibited under 18 U.S.C. 2252–2252A;
- (C) would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution, provided that such withholding is narrowly tailored and temporary;
- (D) depict or contain images of death, physical abuse, or injury of any person; or
- (E) contain information specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order.
Just in time for Christmas?
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