Government Shutdown Threat. Epstein Cover-Up. We’re Fighting Back.

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<p><strong>Friends—</strong></p>

<p>Congress is back in session, and I’m back in Washington, D.C.</p>

<p><strong>And once again, House Republicans&#8217; policies are steering us in the wrong direction.</strong></p> </div>
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<strong>We are less than a month away from a potential government shutdown. </strong>Conservatives are <a href="https://www.deseret.com/politics/2025/09/02/republicans-unveil-more-spending-cuts/" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">doubling down</a> on a funding level that would <a href="https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/house-republicans-continue-assault-public-education-and-research-lifesaving" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">gut programs everyday Americans rely on.</a> This is on top of the <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/by-the-numbers-harmful-republican-megabill-will-take-health-coverage-away-from" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">cuts</a> they already rammed through in Trump’s <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/by-the-numbers-harmful-republican-megabill-will-take-health-coverage-away-from" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">“Big Beautiful Bill.”</a>

<strong>And now, in an unprecedented move</strong>, the White House has announced it will try to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-pocket-rescissions-slash-foreign-aid-congress-rcna227973" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">unilaterally cut funding</a> for programs that Congress has already approved. The Constitution gives Congress the <a href="https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Power-of-the-Purse/" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">&#8220;power of the purse.&#8221;</a> So it’s no surprise that even some <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-object-trumps-rescission-cancel-spending-warning-shutdown-rcna228758" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">Senate Republicans are calling this unconstitutional.</a>

<strong>So let’s be clear about what’s going on here:</strong> Conservatives want us to vote for a funding bill—one that further slashes funding for health care and education—and then allow them to go back and erase the parts they don’t like?

<strong>I don’t think so.</strong>

<strong>On the Appropriations Committee</strong>, I’m fighting to stop these reckless cuts because Trump&#8217;s policies are already doing enough damage to our economy.

<strong>In just the past month:</strong>
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<li>Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/business/economy/trump-bls-firing-jobs-report.html" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">fired the head of the agency that produces labor statistics.</a> This came after the agency released <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/economy/us-jobs-report-july" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">dismal jobs numbers</a> for July that Trump characterized as being <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114955222046259464" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">&#8220;RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.&#8221;</a></li>
<li>He’s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-trump-powell-cook-interest-rates-65f53b88f35f6fd4c670ce43efd6d852" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">attempting to fire Fed officials.</a> Trump has <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114953049546233760" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">indicated support</a> for the Fed lowering interest rates, a move that could <a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-trump-powell-cook-interest-rates-65f53b88f35f6fd4c670ce43efd6d852#:~:text=The%20consequences%20could,and%20business%20loans." rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">send inflation soaring.</a></li>
<li>And a court just ruled that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/most-trump-tariffs-are-not-legal-us-appeals-court-rules-2025-08-30/" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">most of Trump’s tariffs are illegal</a>—but those tariffs will stay in place and <a href="https://thehill.com/business/personal-finance/5453194-trump-tariffs-grocery-prices/" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">continue raising prices</a> while he appeals.</li>
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<strong>How does any of this help working Americans?</strong>

Firing civil servants for doing their jobs? Launching trade wars that are <a href="https://thehill.com/business/personal-finance/5453194-trump-tariffs-grocery-prices/" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">raising prices?</a> <strong>Who asked for this?</strong>

And meanwhile, there’s something else conservatives clearly hope we forget about: <strong>the Epstein files.</strong>

<strong>Well, we haven’t forgotten.</strong>

<strong><u>I join my colleagues in Congress in demanding the Trump administration release the full Epstein files.</u></strong>

We know Trump’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi, said there was <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bondi-says-epstein-client-list-sitting-my-desk-right-now-reviewing-jfk-mlk-files" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">a client list on her desk</a>—<a href="PASTE-THE-CORRECT-FOX-LINK-HERE">then denied it existed</a>—then briefed Trump that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/justice-department-told-trump-name-in-epstein-files-727a8038?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAj4yPw60oRSn9sJabq3L594hKrlxljuqyfp7Sxp5hRjTiywu8QuC28wzwOEirE%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68b9e856&amp;gaa_sig=P3BTpqDV7GlXEQyoqYWvkBmzC0cWD8cumucL9XSUeNSq7ZzM1rxaJhXySWJrKdK5xLlkibQB4OlxIXRrQHHG7w%3D%3D" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">his name was in the files.</a> </div>
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<p>Additionally, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released photos of <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/epstein-birthday-book-congress-9d79ab34?mod=article_inline" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">a birthday card provided by Jeffrey Epstein’s estate</a> in which Trump allegedly wrote <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/epstein-birthday-book-congress-9d79ab34?mod=article_inline" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">lewd messages</a>. We also learned that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyvn7ee3539o" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">some victims worked at Mar-a-Lago.</a></p>

<p>And last week, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/epstein-accusers-put-pressure-congress-release-files-rcna228762" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">as nearly a dozen victims</a> of Epstein’s heinous crimes stood outside the Capitol Building <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/epstein-accusers-put-pressure-congress-release-files-rcna228762" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">demanding the White House release the Epstein files</a>, Trump <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5483932-trump-epstein-files-democrat-hoax/" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> “It’s really a Democrat hoax, because they’re trying to get people to talk about something that’s totally irrelevant to the success we’ve had as a nation since I’ve been president.”</p>

<p>The release of the Epstein files isn’t about politics. It’s not about Republicans or Democrats.</p>

<p>It’s about the sexual abuse and trafficking of children.</p>

<p>Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell ran the operation—but their clients, the powerful people who enabled and participated in that abuse, have escaped accountability for decades.</p>

<p>Trump recently said <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/were-going-in-trump-send-national-guard-troops-chicago-2025-09-02/" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">&#8220;We&#8217;re going in. I didn&#8217;t say when, we&#8217;re going in&#8221;</a> in response to questions about the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago. A court just found that <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/09/02/nx-s1-5525647/a-california-judge-rules-that-trumps-deployment-of-the-guard-to-la-was-illegal" rel="noopener external noreferrer" target="_blank">his deployment of the Guard in California was illegal.</a></p>

<p>Meanwhile, my Democratic colleagues and I will remain focused on holding perpetrators of all kinds of crimes accountable.</p>

<p>The victims deserve justice, and the American people deserve the truth. They deserve a government dedicated to their interests, not the interests of the president.</p>

<p>Sincerely,</p>

<p>Jim</p> </div>
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