[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 26 (Thursday, February 5, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S501-S502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                 Unanimous Consent Request--S. Res. 597

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, 2 months ago, nearly every single Member 
of the House and Senate voted to pass a very simple bill with a very 
simple message: release the Epstein files. The legal deadline to 
release the files was December 19--nearly 50 days ago--and the American 
people are still waiting for the truth to come out. The December 19 
deadline was not a recommendation; it wasn't a suggestion. Releasing 
the Epstein files is the law, a law that every single Member of this 
Chamber--Democrat, Republican, Independent--supported as well as every 
Member of the House, save one.
  So where are we today, 50 days past the deadline?
  At best, according to the Department of Justice's own admissions, 
maybe half of all of the available Epstein files have been released. 
That means millions of documents which contain the names of 
coconspirators: financial records, travel logs, letters, emails. The 
public deserves to see those documents, but the heinous crimes of 
Jeffrey Epstein and his coconspirators remain shrouded in darkness. 
These are things the public deserves to see, but they are shrouded in 
darkness, and whatever materials have been released have often been 
redacted to an absurd degree. Hundreds of pages have been blotted out 
to the point that it is just a wall of black ink. That is it--a wall of 
black ink. Look at this: There are hundreds of pages that look just 
like this. This is not transparency. This is not what the law requires. 
This is a mockery of the truth and an insult to the survivors.
  What makes this all the more sickening is that, in over 1,000 
instances, the Justice Department failed to follow the law and leaked 
the identities of over 100 victims. But do you know whom the Justice 
Department did seem to protect? Epstein's coconspirators. Do you know 
whom else the Justice Department seemed to protect? Donald Trump. What 
is Pam Bondi trying to hide?
  Enough is enough. Today, I come to the floor to seek unanimous 
agreement of a resolution directing the Senate to sue the Trump 
administration for violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act. 
Fifteen of my Democratic colleagues have joined in cosponsoring this 
resolution, and I thank every single one of them for standing firm.
  I urge my Republican colleagues not to stand in the way today. It is 
the height of absurdity for Republicans to have supported the Epstein 
Files Transparency Act but to then go ahead and object to enforcing 
it--what hypocrisy. Objecting today would completely cancel out the 
whole point of Republicans' supporting the law in the first place.
  Finally, the people who have lost the most and who have suffered the 
most are Jeffrey Epstein's victims. With me, I have a letter from about 
20 of the victims, explaining how reckless and dangerous it was for the 
DOJ to carelessly

[[Page S502]]

release the victims' information while going to great lengths to redact 
the names of the coconspirators.
  So I ask unanimous consent that this letter from Jeffrey Epstein's 
survivors, detailing the grave harms of the DOJ's careless release of 
victims' identities, be printed in the Congressional Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

  Epstein Survivors Issue Joint Statement Condemning DOJ's Incomplete 
                         Epstein Files Release

       ``This latest release of Jeffrey Epstein files is being 
     sold as transparency, but what it actually does is expose 
     survivors. Once again, survivors are having their names and 
     identifying information exposed, while the men who abused us 
     remain hidden and protected. That is outrageous. As 
     survivors, we should never be the ones named, scrutinized, 
     and retraumatized while Epstein's enablers continue to 
     benefit from secrecy. This is a betrayal of the very people 
     this process is supposed to serve.
       Virginia Roberts Giuffre alone reported many abusers 
     connected to Epstein's network, yet the public still does not 
     have the full truth about who enabled him, who participated 
     in his exploitation, and who has been shielded for years. 
     Hundreds of women have come forward with additional reports 
     like hers. The scale of this failure is staggering and 
     indefensible.
       The Justice Department cannot claim it is finished 
     releasing files until every legally required document is 
     released and every abuser and enabler is fully exposed. We 
     need to hear directly from Attorney General Pam Bondi when 
     she appears before the House Judiciary Committee on February 
     11. Survivors deserve answers, and the public deserves the 
     truth.
       This is not over. We will not stop until the truth is fully 
     revealed and every perpetrator is finally held accountable. 
     As we have always said, this is not about politics. We hope 
     Democrats and Republicans will stand with survivors in 
     continuing to demand the full release of the Epstein files.
       We look forward to hearing from Attorney General Pam Bondi 
     on February 11.''
       Annie Farmer
       Ashley Rubright
       AW
       Danielle Bensky
       Jane Doe
       Jane Doe
       JD
       Jess Michaels
       Lara Blume McGee
       Liz Stein
       Marijke Chartouni
       Marina Lacerda
       Rachel Benavidez
       Sky & Amanda Roberts
       Sharlene Rochard
       Teresa J. Helm
       Wendy Pesante
  Mr. SCHUMER. Enough is enough. Congress spoke with one voice when it 
passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The deadline has long 
passed, and the Trump Justice Department is still breaking the law. 
Senate Democrats are exhausting every possible avenue to force the 
administration to do what it is already legally required to do: release 
the complete files and deliver transparency and justice, finally, to 
Epstein's victims. If the administration will not follow the law, which 
it isn't, the Senate must act. No one, not even the President, is above 
the law.
  The question before Senate Republicans, today, is simple: Will they 
enforce the law that they helped to pass or object and help keep the 
Epstein files hidden?
  So, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask 
unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of S. Res. 597; that the resolution be agreed to; that 
the preamble be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The majority whip.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, this 
is another reckless political stunt designed to distract Americans from 
Democrats' dangerous plan to shut down the Department of Homeland 
Security. Now, that is a move that is, No. 1, going to delay the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency preparedness the country needs 
right now. No. 2, it is going to disrupt air travel. No. 3, it is going 
to degrade the Coast Guard's ability to interdict deadly drugs. No. 4, 
it is going to make us more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
  Therefore, Mr. President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I compliment the minority leader for 
coming forth and saying what the Senate has agreed to do, which is to 
force the Epstein files to be released, which must be backed up by the 
force of law because we know that the administration failed to release 
half of the paperwork--some 3 million pages. We know that they blocked 
out whole pages in order to disguise, apparently, the protection of 
powerful men they don't want drawn into this discussion.
  Then they proceeded to not redact the names of victims, as the law 
required. Let us not forget what this entire Epstein scandal is about. 
It is about powerful, wealthy men grooming, abusing, and raping young 
women and men. That is what it is about.
  I cannot understand for the life of me why the Republican leadership 
just objected for us to seek enforcement of the law that we passed 
unanimously here. Why is the Republican leadership protecting powerful 
men? Why are they protecting the administration allowing 3 million 
pages to be held on to? Why are they allowing page, after page, after 
page to be blacked out to protect those powerful men? Why will they not 
respond to the fact that when these files were released, they did 
exactly the opposite of the law and failed to redact information about 
the victims, revictimizing so many?
  This is 1,000 percent unacceptable, and it is unacceptable to our 
values as a nation, our values which talk about equal justice under 
law. That is why, by unanimous consent, we said those files must be 
released. But it is meaningless if the administration simply chooses 
not to comply and then my Republican leadership colleagues proceed to 
block the ability to enforce what the Senate agreed to pursue: 
accountability, justice for the victims, transparency over this 
horrific scandal.
  Mr. President, I hope my Republican colleagues will reconsider their 
objection because what they have just done is wrong, morally wrong and 
wrong under the values of equal justice under law, wrong under the 
values of justice for those who have been victimized, wrong under the 
value of accountability for the perpetrators.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 
15 minutes prior to the scheduled rollcall vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.