Shortly after overwhelming vote in the US House of Representatives, the Senate also passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on Tuesday, moving a step closer to the forced release of the files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The bill will now be sent to President Donald Trump for his assent.
By unanimous consent, meaning without any vote, the upper chamber of Congress agreed to consider the bill passed when it arrived before it from the US House and send it to President Trump, who pledged to sign the act into law, without a debate, news agency AFP reported.
The development came shortly after the House passed the bill with massive majority of 247-1 votes. Only Rep Clay Higgins voted no to the act, saying that the release of Epstein files to the public will "absolutely result in innocent people being hurt".
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In a post on X, Higgins said, “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.”
{{/usCountry}}In a post on X, Higgins said, “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.”
{{/usCountry}}"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," he added.
Higgins said he will vote for the act if the Senate amends the bill to properly address privacy of victims and other Americans, who are named in the Epstein files but not criminally implicated.
How Senate passed the Epstein bill?
Speaking on the Senate floor, asking for unanimous consent to pass the Epstein files bill, Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the act is about giving "the American people the transparency they have been crying for".
"The American people have waited long enough. Jeffrey Epstein's victims have waited long enough. Let the truth come out," Schumer was quoted as saying by BBC.
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Following Schumer's request, the Senate passed the measure without raising any objections.
Once the bill arrives in the Senate chamber from the US House, there will be no debate and no amendments to the act. It will be sent directly to the desk of President Trump.