Of course, the lawmakers who now want credit for the
virtually unanimous passage of the bill don’t deserve it. For months, they either stayed silent as Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson
blocked a vote on the bill or
made excuses for their
delay tactics.
In actuality, just four Republicans
can take credit for the success of the legislation.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise tried to prevent a vote on the bill to release the Epstein files—now he wants to take credit for it.
Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Nancy Mace of South Carolina stuck their necks out to join Democrats in signing a discharge petition requiring Johnson to put the bill up for a vote—even though he
really didn't want to.
Greene
lost her relationship with Trump over the bill, while Boebert was
dragged into the White House so Trump could pressure her to remove her name from the petition—a demand she refused to heed.
Once the petition was successful, Trump reluctantly
gave his blessing to Republicans to vote for it—knowing that it was going to pass anyway.
It’s no profile in courage to have refused to support the bill and then demand credit once it passed, but that didn't stop Republicans from doing just that.