Though lawmakers hoped the issue would die down over their August recess, it was revived this week when a key House committee released a note and sexually suggestive drawing addressed to Mr. Epstein that contained what appeared to be Mr. Trump’s signature.
Mr. Schumer proposed his Epstein measure as an amendment to an annual defense policy bill and then, using a maneuver available to him as the minority leader, teed up a procedural vote.
“If Republicans vote no, you’ll be saying to the American people that they should not see the Epstein files,” Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “I ask my Republican colleagues: After all those years you spent calling for accountability, for transparency, for getting to the bottom of these awful crimes, why won’t you vote yes?”
Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, told reporters that Mr. Schumer’s measure was a “stunt” and promised to dispense with it. The Senate voted 51 to 49 to table it.
Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said she opposed Mr. Schumer’s measure because a similar amendment had been adopted on a spending bill that would fund the Justice Department. That bill has not yet been passed by the Senate, but Ms. Collins said it was a more appropriate vehicle for a measure on the Epstein files.