BURSTRep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) is poised to fill a vacancy in the House left by her father, the late Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva, but her swearing-in has been unexpectedly delayed.
Adelita Grijalva was elected last month during a special election following her father's death.
However, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told Grijalva she will be formally sworn in to the 119th Congress once lawmakers in the lower chamber return after being sent home for the past two weeks during the government shutdown. Johnson has pledged not to resume session until enough Senate Democrats pass a House-approved continuing resolution (CR) and reopen the government.
The decision has raised concerns from Democrats, who allege the postponement is part of a larger controversy and ulterior motive.
Is the delay intended to pressure Senate Democrats to end the government shutdown?
Some have speculated that Johnson is holding off on swearing in Grijalva in an effort to pressure Senate Democrats to approve a stopgap measure to fund the government.
Democrats have been refusing to approve the legislation in an effort to have the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies extended past their scheduled end-of-year expiration. The ACA open enrollment period is set to start Nov. 1, and the price of health insurance is expected to skyrocket.
“The guy who works in this office right here is keeping all of his Republican colleagues and his caucus on an extended summer vacation. He will not come back to negotiate with us. We are ready,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told reporters outside Johnson’s office Wednesday.
He and Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) expressed their concerns directly to Johnson, accusing him of intentionally obstructing Grijalva from taking the oath.
“There’s a way for all of us to actually get things done, protect the government workers, extend these affordable health care tax credits — but not when Johnson’s keeping his people out of session, and certainly not while he’s keeping a duly elected member of Congress from Arizona that should have been sworn in by all standards by now,” Gallego said.
Is Grijalva’s swearing-in connected to the Epstein files?
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is one signature away from being able to force the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release all federal files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Massie has been urging his colleagues in the House to support the measure in an effort to gain more transparency for victims, lawmakers and the American public.
Grijalva has pledged to add her signature on to the bipartisan discharge petition.
Despite voicing support for the effort, Johnson has said the delay on Grijalva’s swearing-in has “nothing” to do with the Epstein files.
What has Grijalva said?
Grijalva has said she is eager to take the oath of office and serve her father’s constituents in the wake of the controversy.
"I think it’s great to be able to be in a room with those who will be my colleagues, but then you very quickly realize that you are not part of the club yet,” Grijalva said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. “If I had big money to bet, I would bet that if I were a Republican representative waiting in the wings, I would have already been sworn in by now.”
She also directly criticized the fact that she has not been immediately sworn in as some soon-to-be colleagues previously were. Two Florida Republicans were sworn in during a pro forma session earlier this year on April 2, the day after their own special elections.
“The bedrock of our democracy is free, fair, unobstructed elections,” she told the AP. “And if Speaker Johnson believes this is, as I do, then he will quit toying with our democratic process and swear me in.”