Discharge petitions are, generally speaking, a speaker’s worst nightmare. A disaffected group of members of the majority band with the minority to force a vote on an issue that House leaders from the party in power are ignoring.
Speaker Mike Johnson has two live discharge petitions at the moment, a headache that is, in many respects, a challenge to his stewardship of the House.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) dropped the first discharge petition Tuesday, a measure aimed at forcing the release of the Epstein files – any Justice Department or FBI documents relating to the case of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The other discharge petition hasn’t been filed yet. But Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) is threatening to file a petition unless Johnson puts legislation on the floor to ban stock trading by members of Congress.
Both efforts present problems – and opportunities – for the GOP leadership.
Epstein. The Epstein mess is truly a political disaster of Republicans’ own making. And now they’re working feverishly to undo it.
Massie’s discharge petition already has 134 signatures, all of which are Democrats besides Massie and Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). Luna said Tuesday she’s open to signing it.
If Luna follows through, just one more Republican would be needed to force a vote, provided all 212 Democrats sign on. Massie was working on Reps. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) and Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) toward the end of the Tuesday evening vote series on the House floor.
The White House is already whipping against the petition. Trump administration officials are telling Republican lawmakers that it would be premature to sign the discharge petition, given that the House Oversight Committee is in the middle of its Epstein investigation. The Oversight panel released tens of thousands of pages of Epstein documents Tuesday, although many of these had already been public.
Given Trump’s grip on the party, we’re not sure that the Massie petition will get the requisite signatures. But Massie is in the driver’s seat at the moment and has Johnson and the White House working overtime to prevent a major embarrassment.
There’s a news conference with Epstein victims at 10:30 a.m. today. That will only increase the pressure on party leaders and the White House.
Stock trading. This has been a long-running issue that several speakers, including Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy, punted on.
Luna’s view is that the GOP leadership needs to put a bipartisan bill to ban stock trading on the floor next week. We caught up with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise Tuesday on this issue. It didn’t sound like a bill was imminent.
If Luna isn’t satisfied with the leadership, she’ll file this discharge petition. Technically, the Luna petition seeks to put a rule on the floor for a vote.
But the proposed stock-trading ban that Luna wants to enact is very strict, forcing members to dump all their stocks within 180 days of the bill being passed and exit “complex” investments such as hedge funds within two years.
Spouses and dependent children would also be covered by the ban. The Justice Department or a special counsel could initiate a civil action against lawmakers who violate the ban.
The takeaway. Discharge petitions are rarely successful. The reason they’re a real threat to GOP leaders during this Congress is because of the tight margins. So this is a clarion call to Johnson that there’s frustration with how he’s managing legislation.
