Topline
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., clashed with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday, accusing the speaker of stalling to avoid swearing in an Arizona representative-elect because she would provide the deciding vote on a bill that could release the files on Jeffery Epstein—but Johnson denied this charge and instead blamed the ongoing government shutdown.
Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., won the September special election to replace her father, former Rep. Raul Grijalva, after he died while undergoing cancer treatment in March—but Johnson has deferred from calling a pro forma session to swear the Arizona Democrat into office while the government remains shut down.
Grijalva is expected to provide the deciding vote to approve a discharge petition that would force the House to vote on releasing the Epstein files, and Gallego accused the speaker of “blocking” her from taking office, later adding “you don’t want to be on the Epstein discharge.”
In an exchange in front of reporters Wednesday, Johnson called Gallego’s accusation “totally absurd” and instead pressed the senators to vote to reopen the government.
The House is not currently in session, though Johnson has the power to call a pro forma session—which the Senate Glossary defines as “A brief meeting of the Senate or House, often only a few minutes in duration, during which business is not usually conducted”—to swear in Grijalva.
“Speaker Johnson continues to make excuses, but all the while southern Arizona still does not have a voice in Washington,” Grijalva said in a video statement Wednesday, asking constituents to apply pressure to the speaker to swear her in.
Democrats in Congress are trying to pass a discharge petition, a tool that would force a floor vote on a bill that would release the files related to the government’s investigations and prosecutions of the disgraced financier. The effort was spearheaded by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and the petition needs the support of a majority of members to pass. Only four Republicans have signed on to the petition: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Massie. The petition, which all House Democrats have backed, needs only one more vote to pass the threshold, and Grijalva has indicated she would support it.
On Tuesday, Johnson told reporters the House would swear Grijalva in “whenever she wants,” insisting the delay has “nothing to do with” the vote on the Epstein files. “We’re happy that she got elected, she’s filling her father’s seat, that’s fantastic,” he said Wednesday. “We have a long tradition here and a process of how we administer the oath to a member,” Johnson told Kelly and Gallego. “We’re gonna do that as soon as we get back to work, but we need the lights turned back on.” Johnson said the charge that he was delaying due to the impending Epstein vote was “totally absurd,” and cited the House Oversight Committee’s ongoing review of documents related to the case that the speaker endorsed in the past. Johnson said the Oversight committee was “doing the work, they’re doing it with subpoena power, and you don’t need an act of Congress for that to happen because they’re already on it.”
Earlier this year, the House swore in two Florida Republicans, Rep. Jimmy Patronis and Rep. Randy Fine, during a pro forma session after they won special elections to replace representatives who joined the Trump administration. Johnson called this case an exception. “They were here on a day, they had their families here, they had a scheduled day for the oath of office, and the House was called out of session that day,” Johnson said. “They had all their family and friends here, so we went ahead and went through the process.” The speaker said the House would schedule a date for Grijalva to take the oath of office after the shutdown ended. “Rep.-elect Grijalva has not yet had a scheduled date because she was elected after the House was out of session,” he said Wednesday.