House members are wasting no time laying the groundwork this week for a confrontation with GOP leaders over releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Freshly back in Washington from the August recess, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) plans to take the formal steps at 2 p.m. today to file a discharge petition, the procedural maneuver necessary to bypass leadership and force a vote on his resolution compelling the DOJ to unseal the files related to the late, convicted sex offender.

Once he does that, Massie said in a social media post Tuesday morning, he can begin gathering the necessary 218 signatures required to bring the resolution to the floor. He said in an interview last week he expects to secure that number quickly. Massie also has co-sponsored the measure with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), so a combination of support from virtually all Democrats and at least a handful of Republicans all but guarantees the two lawmakers will meet that threshold.

A bipartisan group of House members, including leadership of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is set to convene a closed-door meeting with Epstein’s victims Tuesday afternoon, according to a person granted anonymity to share details of a private event.

A group of Epstein’s victims also plan to hold a rally on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning, separate from a long-scheduled press conference Khanna and Massie will host with victims around that same time to highlight their discharge petition effort.

Despite GOP leaders’ efforts to quell the Epstein crisis over the recess, Massie said, “this has not gone away like the speaker had hoped.”

Speaker Mike Johnson held a call this weekend with Rules Committee Republicans as they work through how to handle the Epstein uproar, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the private conversation.

House GOP leaders on Monday posted a separate resolution directing the Oversight Committee to “continue its ongoing investigation into the possible mismanagement of the Federal government’s investigation of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein” for a possible vote this week.

Posting on X, Massie called it a “meaningless vote to provide political cover” to opponents of his own effort.

Rules Republicans are set to meet again Tuesday afternoon, while Democrats on the committee plan to apply new pressure on Epstein during the panel’s 4 p.m. meeting. They are set to offer their own Epstein-related amendments, according to two other people granted anonymity to describe private deliberations.

Key GOP senators largely shied away from criticizing President Donald Trump’s move to fire Fed Gov. Lisa Cook as they returned from their monthlong August recess on Tuesday, even as they stressed the importance of an independent central bank.

“I believe in Fed independence,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee. Pressed by reporters about Cook’s ouster, he said: “It’s in the courts. I don’t know who’s right or who’s wrong.”

Trump moved last week to fire Cook, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, citing allegations that she committed mortgage fraud. Cook has sued to block her ouster, saying the president does not have the authority to remove her from the Fed board.

“The courts will make that determination as to whether or not he has that authority,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “But I think the independence of the Federal Reserve is absolutely critical. It’s critical to the president’s long-term economic success because he needs that board to be seen as independent if we want to keep our U.S. Treasuries in demand around the world.”

The Cook showdown comes as the Senate is gearing up to quickly advance Trump’s nominee for a separate Fed board seat, Stephen Miran. He is set to appear before the Banking panel on Thursday, where he will likely face a barrage of questions over the independence of the central bank.

Miran, who currently chairs Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, is making the rounds on Capitol Hill ahead of his confirmation: Rounds said he expected to meet with Miran Tuesday evening and Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) said she is set to meet with him on Wednesday.

“I look forward to supporting him, but I want to make sure he understands how important [Fed independence] is to the long-term success of the president’s economic plans, and to the long-term stability of the dollar,” Rounds said.

Democrats are calling for the Miran nomination hearing to be postponed amid the dispute over Cook’s ouster.

“I don’t know how you move forward when I think the president is trying to illegally fire a Fed member,” said Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat on the Banking panel. “I didn’t think I could get astonished and disappointed any more [in] my Republican colleagues who say they want to honor the Fed’s independence — or, for that matter, the business community, who seems like they bend the knee on every issue.”

Some Republicans are more explicitly backing Trump’s move.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) called the allegations against Cook “egregious.”

Asked about concerns over Fed independence, said Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.): “If they operate independently outside of the law, then that independence is not earned.

“There’s a legitimate issue here,” she said.

Facing a government shutdown cliff in four weeks, the House’s top lawmakers are talking privately about punting the funding deadline for a month or two.

Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries discussed extending government funding into November or December when the two spoke last week, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the private conversation.

President Donald Trump’s fresh declaration that he has unilaterally canceled almost $5 billion in foreign aid only increases the threat of a partisan standoff over government funding in the coming weeks. But so far leaders on Capitol Hill are holding........

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