House Republicans Muscle Through the Rescission Bill as the Epstein Storm Gathers on Capitol Hill

Republicans got their rescission bill done with just under a day to spare before a deadline would have nullified the legislation.

Mike Johnson
Speaker Mike Johnson arrives to deliver an economic address to financial and business leaders at the New York Stock Exchange. Richard Drew/AP

After weeks of consternation, several days of unrelated theatrics and one very late night, House Republicans officially rescinded $9 billion of congressionally appropriated funds just after midnight on Friday morning in yet another legislative victory for the Trump administration.

With just under a day to spare before a Friday at midnight deadline, House Republicans voted mostly along party lines to approve the legislation, 216-213, with two Republicans joining every Democrat in voting against the measure. Reps. Mike Turner and Brian Fitzpatrick were the only Republicans to vote against the bill.

In a fashion befitting the chaotic legislative sprint, House Republicans actually used a unique process to pass the bill, adopting a rule that had self-executing language that would “deem” the rescission bill as passed upon adoption of the rule, while also setting up a potential future vote on a nonbinding resolution to direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to release documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.