The House is coming back from the holiday break with three fights waiting at the door: Epstein documents, health care, and government funding.
The Hill reported that in January and into the first quarter, lawmakers will juggle anger over Justice Department redactions and delays, a push to revive expired ObamaCare subsidies, and a Jan. 30 funding deadline that could trigger a partial shutdown.
The pressure has been building for months, and the chamber is returning to the same unresolved disputes that have repeatedly sparked intraparty friction and cross-party sniping.
The Justice Department has been releasing files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in batches, and the pace has tested the patience of both Democrats and some Republicans.
DOJ said it missed the law’s Dec. 19 deadline because it is working to protect information about victims, a rationale that sounds responsible but has not ended the uproar over what lawmakers say they still cannot see.
Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., led an effort to force a vote on legislation directing DOJ to release Epstein-related files, turning transparency into one of the rare bipartisan causeways left in Washington.
Massie and Khanna say they are drafting a resolution to hold Attorney General Pam Bondi in inherent contempt of Congress, with Massie calling it the “quickest way” to get justice for victims.
Khanna argued the move could fine Bondi “for every day” the documents are not released, a line designed for maximum leverage and minimum subtlety.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche responded on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with: “Bring it on,” which is a neat sound bite, but it does not answer lawmakers’ complaints about redactions or timing.
Top Democrats on key House committees criticized DOJ’s handling of the document releases, suggesting the department’s approach is becoming as much the story as the files themselves.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, accused DOJ of “illegal redactions” that appear to be “protecting powerful men who raped and abused women and girls,” and he said the delay amounts to “a criminal White House cover-up.”
Garcia and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a joint statement they are “examining all legal options,” a phrase that usually means the lawyers are warming up while the cameras keep rolling.
Separately from DOJ’s release, the House Oversight Committee has its own investigation into matters related to Epstein, ensuring the issue will not fade just because another batch hits the internet.
Chair James Comer, R-Ky., threatened to hold former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt if they do not appear for in-person depositions about their personal relationships with Epstein.
In a Dec. 15 letter, Comer said the committee, after negotiations and back-and-forth, set deposition dates of Jan. 13 and Jan. 14, warning, “If your clients do not comply with these new dates, the Committee will move immediately to contempt proceedings.”
A spokesperson for the Clintons urged DOJ to release the full Epstein material after the initial release included photos of former President Clinton with Epstein.
The spokesperson said DOJ is “using selective releases to imply wrongdoing about individuals who have been repeatedly cleared by the very same Department of Justice, over many years, under Presidents and Attorney Generals of both parties.”
That complaint doubles as a dare: release everything and let the chips fall where they may, even if Washington’s usual instinct is to keep the chips in a locked drawer.
On health care, enhanced ObamaCare subsidies officially expired at the end of 2025, setting up a new fight over premiums for people relying on marketplace plans.
Congress’s effort to revive the subsidies and prevent increased premiums for 22 million people will continue in the new year, with the House set to vote on a bill to extend the subsidies as-is for three years.
The vote is happening only after four Republicans joined a Democratic effort to force the measure to the floor, a reminder that leadership control is strongest right up until it isn’t.
The Republicans who signed the discharge petition were Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan, Ryan Mackenzie, all of Pennsylvania, and Mike Lawler of New York.
They signed after negotiations with GOP leadership broke down over allowing an amendment vote to extend the subsidies with reforms, and the rebels and Democratic leaders can force a vote in mid-January.
A three-year extension without reforms is described as unlikely to pass, and the same proposal was blocked in the Senate after Democrats tried to bring it up in December.
Moderate House Republicans have been discussing possible compromises with moderate senators, including Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, and Angus King, I-Maine, after the discharge petition hit the signature threshold.
House Republicans passed the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act in December, which included funds for cost-sharing reductions, reforms to pharmacy benefit managers, and an expansion of association health plans.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on CNBC that Republicans were “looking at another reconciliation package” in the first quarter that would include more health care changes, noting, “All of it is geared again, for reducing premiums, increasing access to care and quality of care,” while conceding, “You don’t just go flip switches and change it.”
