Jeffrey Epstein allegations flew during a spat between Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., over the fate of the César Chávez National Monument.

Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, objected to a bill on Tuesday to defund and close the monument after multiple women accused the deceased Chávez of sexual assault.

Lee, the committee chair, lashed out at Heinrich for objecting to the bill put forward by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Heinrich, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, objected to a bill on Tuesday to defund and close the monument after multiple women accused Chávez — an icon in the farm labor movement — of sexual assault. Heinrich objected to the bill, citing concerns that erasing the monument would diminish the work of other leaders in the farm labor movement.

“I agree unequivocally that we should no longer have a monument named after Cesar Chavez,” he noted on the Senate floor after objecting. “But we absolutely should not erase the monuments telling of the story of the farm labor movement. That is a story that belongs to many humans, including the survivors of Chavez’s violence.”

Chávez, who died in 1993, was accused by several women who he worked with of abusing them as minors in a recent report by The Latest York Times.

Heinrich proposed amending the bill to temporarily close the monument and require the government to examine a fresh monument to honor the farm labor movement. This also touches on aspects of portfolio.

“The César Chávez National Monument is the very place where Chávez sexually abused women and children,” Lee remarked. “Senate Democrats just fought to keep this crime scene enshrined as a national monument.

The monument is a National Park Service site in Keene, Calif.

Cornyn’s bill would immediately close the site, require the federal government to liquidate the land that includes Chávez’s home, his gravesite and memorial garden and any contents of his personal office,In Congress and Washington, where The Recent York Times reported he abused a minor.

The proposal comes amid a reckoning over sexual malfeasance, which just saw two members of the House resign over alleged sexual misconduct and has been wracked by the release of the Epstein files earlier this year.

“Given that two members of Congress resigned today because of sexual abuse allegations, I find it unfathomable that [Heinrich] offered an amendment that would protect the legacy of César Chávez who sexually abused minors,” Cornyn mentioned in an X post on Tuesday.

Heinrich responded to Lee and Cornyn by posting headlines of the pair voting against the release of the Epstein files.

Lee then posted a copy of a 2012 email to Epstein asking the disgraced financier if he wants to meet with Heinrich, then a House member running for Senate, for lunch in Recent York City.

“Congressman Martin Heinrich will be in NYC tomorrow and would love to get lunch with you around 12:30 p.m. if you’re free,” the email, sent by a representative of the fundraising firm Dynamic SRG, reads. “Please let me know if you’re interested in meeting him and learning more about his race for Senate in Recent Mexico.”

Heinrich’s office told CNBC that “this has already been reported on” when asked for comment on the spat. Furthermore, experts in earnings report note the continued relevance.

The Albuquerque Journal reported in February that the letter was part of the Epstein files released by the Justice Department.

In a statement to the Journal, Heinrich’s spokesperson noted he “never met Jeffrey Epstein.”

“Heinrich also never accepted any campaign contributions from Epstein,” the spokesperson commented.