OAN Staff Sophia Flores
5:04 PM – Tuesday, November 18, 2025
The Senate has agreed by unanimous consent to approve the House of Representatives’ newly passed bill, officially sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk as soon as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson transmits the bill to the upper chamber.
Soon after the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed in the House on Tuesday in a 427-1 vote, the Senate automatically agreed to a consent request from Senate Minority Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
The only “no” vote came from Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.). The bill was sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who used a discharge petition to bypass initial leadership resistance and force a floor vote after months of delays.
“My unanimous consent request guarantees that the Senate will immediately pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act without any further action as soon as it comes over from the House,” Schumer explained on the Senate floor. “We will pass the House’s bill without changes, without delay and we will finally get this done.”
“The Senate has now passed the Epstein bill as soon as it comes over from the House,” the Democrat stated.
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On X, Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) clarified that the measure was “deemed as passed” under the rules, so no formal vote was required.
“You might not have caught what just happened on the Senate floor, but the Senate just ‘deemed as passed’ the Epstein resolution,” Murphy explained. “That means as soon as it arrives from the House, it automatically passes the Senate (with no amendments) and heads to the President’s desk. Wow.”
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