Thomas Massie · TranslatePolitics.com

House of Representatives

Bring Epstein Perpetrators to Justice

2026-08-31

“I want the government to release files about Jeffrey Epstein. I want people who did bad things to be punished. Some people say they are embarrassed. Maybe that will make the Department of Justice act. I want to make the Department of Justice look bad.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. Speaker, it has been a year since the President signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the government continues to withhold over 3 million files. That is why we have introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, to bring the fight to the State courts, accountability to the Department of Justice, and closure for survivors. We want perpetrators of these crimes to be investigated and prosecuted, men like: Jes Staley; Leon Black; Les Wexner; David Copperfield; Lapo Elkann; Tom Pritzker; Glenn Dubin; Frederic Fekkai; Eduardo Teodorani; Jean-Luc Brunel, conveniently dead by suicide in prison; Daniel Siad, recently discovered dead in Paris; Ramsey Elkholy; and Prince Andrew, who committed sex crimes in the United States, too; and women like Leslie Groff, not a victim, who conspired with Epstein to traffic other women. Perhaps hearing these names will shame the Department of Justice into delivering justice.

View on ourcommons.ca ↗

House of Representatives

National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2027

2026-07-15

“Jordan's king is rich. He buys expensive houses. But many people in Jordan are poor. We send Jordan a lot of money. That money goes to rich people in Jordan. It is not fair to take money from poor people in America and give it to rich people in Jordan. We need that money here. We need to stop sending money to Jordan. We have a lot of debt. We need to spend money on our veterans instead.”

Official Congressional Record

Madam Chair, this is a very simple amendment. I will just say it again. The monarchy of Jordan doesn't deserve the taxpayers' money from the United States. In 2021, King Abdullah II secretly purchased over $106 million in luxury properties in Malibu, London, and D.C. through 36 offshore shell companies while 16 percent of the Jordanian population lives in poverty. It has been said that foreign aid can be described as taking money from poor people in the United States and giving it to rich people in other countries, and that is what is happening in this instance. How much of this money is going to go toward more luxury properties for the King of Jordan? I would like to know that. There needs to be more transparency in this money and, frankly, it needs to end completely. We don't have the money. We are in debt. It is contributing to the high cost of living here in the United States. We would be better off spending this money taking care of our own veterans. Madam Chair, I urge adoption of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

View on ourcommons.ca ↗

“I want America to spend less money. Our government borrows too much. Our government prints too much money. Things cost more now because our government spends too much. Some of the money our government spends goes to other countries. I want our government to stop sending money to Jordan. Jordan is not a democracy like America. America has too much debt. We sent more money to Jordan this year than before. I want our government to spend less money on other countries and spend more money on America.”

Official Congressional Record

Madam Chair, I offer this amendment sincerely for the American people because the price of housing, the price of fuel, the price of everything is going up because our government, frankly, is spending too much money. We are borrowing money. We are printing money, and why are we doing this? Are we doing this to support our own infrastructure or our own veterans? No. A lot of this money goes overseas, and one of the recipients is the country of Jordan. I think we should end foreign aid to Jordan. As our debt approaches $40 trillion, it is more and more urgent. I have noticed that the money that we sent to Jordan has tripled since 2008. It started out at about $600 million, and now it is $2.1 billion. This is too much. We shouldn't be doing it. Jordan is a monarchy. They do not deserve the support of our democratic Republic of this country. I think we should end the support to their country from our taxpayers. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

View on ourcommons.ca ↗

“I don't want to send taxpayer money to other countries. Not to Israel, Egypt, or Jordan. Israel has a strong economy. They say they don't want our money. I say no foreign aid to anyone. I don't want our money and technology mixed up with theirs. I'm very concerned about money to Israel this year. There is a war in Gaza with many casualties. I don't want U.S. taxpayers to pay for Israel's military actions. I want my amendment to pass.”

Official Congressional Record

Madam Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time to close. Madam Chair, Israel has the strongest economy in the Middle East. Their debt per GDP is in much better shape than ours. They don't need our money. In fact, they have claimed recently they want to get off of the welfare. I am concerned that the other funding mechanisms they are talking about, or comingling, our technology and supply chains, we will have even less transparency than what is going on here today, so I am opposed to that as well. I am opposed to all foreign aid. I didn't pick on Israel here. I offered an amendment to defund Egypt and also to defunding aid to Jordan, which we will talk about in a little bit. I am particularly concerned this year about the foreign aid to Israel. There have been 70,000 casualties in Gaza, and I don't think we should be a part of that. American taxpayers should not be conscripted into funding the military adventures of Israel. Madam Chair, I urge adoption of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

View on ourcommons.ca ↗

“I don't like that. You say it's good to spend money on weapons. I think it's bad. You want to use weapons on people. That's bad. I don't want to give more money to weapon companies.”

“We are $39.4 trillion in debt. We should not send $3.3 billion to Israel. We have needs at home. Our roads and bridges need repair. We need to fund dams and locks. We have homeless veterans. We spend more on Israel than homeless veterans. Israel received $310 billion from us. They are the biggest welfare recipient. We should put them on a diet. I want the government to stop spending so much. That is my amendment. I think it is important.”

Official Congressional Record

Madam Chair, my amendment is simple. It strikes $3.3 billion of foreign aid to the country of Israel from the State Department funding bill. We have $39.4 trillion of debt. We have needs at home, which include our infrastructure, our roads and bridges. We have a shortfall in this fund. We have our locks and dams, and we are perpetually trying to figure out new funding mechanisms to come up with. We have homeless veterans. We are sending more money to Israel in this bill than we spend on homeless veterans in this country. Just to put it in perspective, there are 3,000 counties in this country, and if we divide that into $3 billion, that is $1 million from every county. This is not an insignificant amount of money that is going overseas. I think we should stop it. We should put them on a diet. They are the biggest welfare recipient of the United States and have been for many years. Madam Chair, $310 billion has been received by Israel from the taxpayers of the United States. That is in inflation-adjusted dollars since we have been giving them money. That is why I think this amendment is important. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

View on ourcommons.ca ↗