Massie and Khanna have 106 of the 218 signatures needed to force a second Epstein files vote. Will they get to 218 before Sept 18?

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) fell short of the 218 signatures needed to formally force a House vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act II before September 18. By September 17, the discharge petition had 216 confirmed signatures, with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) among the most recent additions alongside fellow Republicans Ralph Norman and Nancy Mace. Every House Democrat had signed except Reps. John Garamendi (Calif.) and Adam Smith (Wash.), who were reported ill and had pledged to sign once the chamber reconvened. Speaker Mike Johnson had sent the House home early for a midterm recess, so the two pending Democratic signatures could not be formally added before the deadline, even as Massie and Khanna publicly announced on September 17-18 that they had secured commitments for all 218. The bill would let state attorneys general and district attorneys sue the U.S. attorney general over noncompliance with the original transparency law and would give abuse victims access to unredacted files concerning themselves. The community majority, 61% no, correctly anticipated that the formal 218-signature threshold would not be reached in time, even though the effort's ultimate success became a near-certainty by the deadline.