Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said his delay in swearing in Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (Ariz.) is not related to her looming signature on a petition to force a House vote compelling release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, saying she will be sworn in when the House is back in session.
“It has nothing to do with that at all. We will swear her in when everybody gets back,” Johnson said in a Tuesday press conference.
Asked when her swearing-in will happen, Johnson said: “We’ll schedule it, I guess, whenever she wants. It has nothing to do with it.”
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Grijalva won a special election on Sept. 23 for the Arizona seat that was long held by her father, former Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.). But despite decisively winning the seat, she has not yet been sworn in.
The move delays a months-long effort to circumvent House leadership on a bill compelling the Department of Justice to release the so-called Epstein files — with Grijalva being the 218th and final signature needed on the procedural gambit called a discharge petition to force action on the measure. GOP leaders argue the bill is not needed since the House Oversight and Government Reform committee is investigating the Epstein matter.
Republican leaders canceled previously scheduled voting days this week and on Sept. 29-30, the two days before the government shutdown deadline, as they aim to jam Senate Democrats into accepting a GOP-crafted, House-passed “clean” stopgap bill funding the government through Nov. 21. Democrats have rejected that bill as they make demands on health care policy.
But even though House members are gone, the chamber has held brief “pro forma” sessions in which the House briefly gavels in and out for Constitutional procedural purposes.
“We are in pro forma session because there is nothing for the House to do, the House has done its job,” Johnson said Tuesday.
Democrats have called for Grijalva to be sworn in at those pro forma sessions — as there is precedent for doing so just months ago.
Two Florida Republicans were sworn in during a pro forma session earlier this year on April 2, the day after their special elections.
“There’s no reason why I couldn’t have been sworn in, and it’s very problematic, because we’re facing a government shutdown. We’re going to have constituents who have questions, and there is nobody there to answer questions,” Grijalva said after not being sworn in at a pro forma session last week.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, went to the chamber floor Monday afternoon during a routine pro forma session in an effort to extract a Republican commitment to seat Grijalva. Rules Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who was presiding, did not recognize McGovern to allow him to make the request.
“The bulls‑‑‑ continues,” McGovern told reporters.
The next pro forma session in the House is scheduled for Wednesday.