WASHINGTON ‒ The House of Representatives is expected to vote Tuesday, Nov. 18 on compelling the Justice Department to release the full files from the federal investigation of the late convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

But the upcoming vote won't end the fight over the legislation, which would require passage in the Senate and the signature of President Donald Trump to become law.

Here's what's at stake:

What would the bill do?

The Epstein Files Transparency Act would require the Justice Department to publish "all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ's possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein."

Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky and Ro Khanna, D-California are lead authors of the bill, which says it covers documents related to Epstein's co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, potential flight logs and travel records and individuals named or referenced in connection to Epstein.

The DOJ would still be permitted to withhold certain information such as personal information of victims and materials that could jeopardize an active federal investigation.

The Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last week released 20,000 pages of documents it received from Epstein's estate as part of its investigation into the Epstein files. The committee released a previous tranche of more than 33,000 documents in September.

In one of the newly released emails, Epstein wrote of Trump, "I am the one able to take him down.” Epstein, in other emails released by House Democrats, said Trump "spent hours at my house" with one of Epstein's victims and "knew about the girls."

What will the House do?

The Epstein bill already had enough support to pass the House. It's now expected to easily pass the House after Trump, in a sudden reversal, on Nov. 16 urged Republicans to vote for the legislation.

Four House Republicans ‒ in addition to all House Democrats ‒ signed a discharge petition to force the vote on releasing the files. Massie, appearing on ABC's "This Week," predicted that 100 or more Republicans would vote for the bill, plus all the Democrats.

Now, even more, if not all, House Republicans are expected to vote for the bill after Trump publicly endorsed doing so.

"House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide," Trump said in a post on Truth Social, a complete turnabout after resisting the release of the files for months.

What happens next?

House approval of the Epstein bill would send the legislation to the Senate, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune has not committed to holding a vote on the measure

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that the Senate "will take a look" at the bill if it passes the House.

"If it passes the House, we'll see what it says," Barrasso said. "We all want accountability and transparency. But to me, this is not about truth. It's not about justice. This is about an attempt by the Democrats to make President Trump a lame-duck president. And I'm not going to aid and abet them in their efforts to do that."

Thirteen Republican senators, plus the 47 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus, would be needed to reach the 60-vote threshold to break a Senate filibuster to pass the bill.

Would Trump sign the bill?

If the bill passes the House and Senate, it would then head to Trump's desk for his signature.

Trump has not said whether he would sign the bill. He also has the power to veto the legislation if he chooses - and that would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers to overturn the president's veto. (Trump could also just order the release of the documents himself without congressional action.)

Even if Trump signs the Epstein bill, the president's recently announced DOJ investigations into prominent Democrats' relationships with Epstein could affect which documents are released.

Trump said he ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Epstein's ties with former President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, venture capitalist Reid Hoffman and the bank JPMorgan Chase.

As a result, the DOJ could potentially argue the release of certain documents would jeopardize these investigations.

Reach Joey Garrison on X @Joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will the Epstein files be released? Here's what would need to happen.

Reporting by Joey Garrison, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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