We’re glad to see the House and Senate vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files — clearing away a ridiculous distraction.

Normal Americans will wonder why this was a top order of business after 42 days of government shutdown. What the heck is going on in DC?

The answer: Democrats pushed this red herring to keep the GOP majority from getting real work done.

All for a bill that does next to nothing.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and anti-Trump Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) make all manner of noise about what the files will reveal, yet their measure lets Attorney General Pam Bondi “withhold or redact” material for a range of reasons, including shielding “personally identifiable information of victims” that “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

As independent journo Michael Tracey pointed out, that leaves a lot of wiggle room: In June, a Department of Justice memo cited “over one thousand victims” to protect in any release.

The nation won’t see a full release of Epstein docs while those victims still live — just more of what came out in the 20,000-plus pages released last week: more deets on muckety-muck slimeballs who were chummy with Epstein, like fabulist author Michael Wolff.

Khanna pretends the files hold scandalous revelations, but that’s just a bid to exploit the MAGA factions who screamed foul after Bondi and FBI chief Kash Patel announced Epstein didn’t keep a client list and there was no evidence he “blackmailed prominent individuals.”

It’s always been a divide-and-conquer bid to disrupt the Republican majority with a media circus.

Epstein, vile as he was, was mainly on the hunt for victims for his own sick pleasure, not procuring teens for the rich and powerful (even if the odd prince joined in).

No sign has come to light of major sex-trafficking operation — no “client list” nor other smoking-gun document exposing the supposed global pedophile ring.

Those who claim Team Trump is suppressing the docs to protect the prez forget the feds have had it all for years.

No way the Biden administration sat on real dirt as it pulled out every other stop against Trump.

The GOP needs to wake up and stop letting the minority party grind the lawmaking wheels to a halt: Draw a line on this nonsense and get going on tackling the issues the voters actually care about.