House Republicans on Thursday torpedoed a Democratic-led effort to release the Ethics Committee’s report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), sending the resolution back to the panel.

The decision by the chamber leaves the future of the Gaetz Ethics report in question, with Democrats pushing for the body of work to be made public, and Republicans repeatedly resisting those attempts.

The matter that has been the subject of intense controversy since the former congressman was nominated by President-elect Trump to be attorney general, resigned from office, withdrew his name from consideration, then said he does not plan to take the oath of office in January — a sequence of events that played out in just nine days last month.

Despite Thursday’s votes, the Gaetz Ethics report could still see the light of day: The House Ethics Committee met to talk about the matter for roughly 2.5 hours behind closed doors shortly before the floor vote and said they would continue conversations regarding the issue.

“The Committee met today to discuss the matter of Representative Matt Gaetz. The Committee is continuing to discuss the matter. There will be no further statements other than in accordance with Committee and House Rules,” the panel wrote.

House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.) told reporters after Thursday’s huddle that it was not the last meeting of the group.

Last month, after the Ethics Committee declined to release its report on Gaetz, Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) moved to force votes on separate resolutions that would compel the panel to make its body of work on the former congressman public. The pair renewed that effort this week, after Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration for attorney general, setting the stage for Thursday’s votes.

Republicans, however, motioned to refer those resolutions back to the committee, which shields the chamber from having to vote directly on whether to release the report.

The chamber voted 206-198 to send Casten’s resolution back to the Ethics panel and 204-198 to send Cohen’s resolution to the committee.

Thursday’s Ethics Committee meeting was the second in the past month where the panel — which typically conducts its business in secrecy — gathered to discuss the Gaetz report.

The group has been investigating the Florida Republican for roughly three-and-a-half years on allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. He was also accused of accepting improper gifts, dispensing special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship and seeking to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.

That probe, however, came to an abrupt end after Gaetz resigned from Congress last month, since the panel does not have jurisdiction over former members.

Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.

The group declined to release the Gaetz report on Nov. 20 after a vote on the matter ended in a tie along party lines. Democrats pushed for the report’s release, arguing that it was important for the information to be public as Gaetz worked to be confirmed in the Senate as attorney general. Republicans, meanwhile, argued that the issue was moot because Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress.

There is, however, some precedent for releasing Ethics Committee reports into former members of Congress. In 1987, the panel released its report into former Rep. William Boner (D-Tenn.) after he resigned from the House. And in 2011, the Senate Ethics Committee released its preliminary report into former Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) after he departed the upper chamber.

The debate over Gaetz’s report was thrown another curveball after Gaetz withdrew his nomination from consideration for attorney general as his bid looked increasingly doomed amid GOP opposition.

The Justice Department also investigated Gaetz over allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl. He has denied the allegations and the department declined to charge him with a crime.