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After preventing the passage of a continuing resolution to fund the federal government on Tuesday, House Republicans stalled the swearing-in of an Arizona Democrat — a move that will hurt her constituents during the government shutdown, the lawmaker has pointed out.
The decision to gavel out without the swearing-in of Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Arizona) also prevents, for now, the possibility of a discharge petition motion, which would have allowed a bipartisan measure on releasing federal investigative files on disgraced financier and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Grijalva said that seemed to be the real reason why she was not sworn in, despite handily winning her special election earlier this month.
“I can’t see another reason,” Grijalva told the publication. “It doesn’t change the majority, Democrats are still in the minority. That seems to be the only outstanding issue that I can see.”
House Republican leaders have tried to justify delaying Grijalva’s swearing-in by claiming it wasn’t timed right, as the gaveling out of session came during a “pro forma” session of Congress.
“Historically, you do it when the House is in session other than pro forma,” said Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Virginia), who oversaw the gaveling in and out of the short pro forma session on Tuesday.
Yet, earlier this year, the House was in another pro forma session when Republicans allowed the swearing-in of GOP lawmakers from Florida, after a special election win for them in that state.
“There’s no reason why I couldn’t have been sworn in, and it’s very problematic, because we’re facing a government shutdown,” Grijalva said in another interview. “We’re going to have constituents who have questions, and there is nobody there to answer questions.”
Preventing Grijalva from being sworn in (and thus preventing a vote in the House on the Epstein files) allows Republican leadership a few extra days to try to convince four GOP lawmakers who are supportive of the discharge petition to change their minds. The House will not reconvene until October 7, according to that chamber’s official calendar.
Polling shows that there is considerable support for releasing the Epstein files, and distrust among the public over what has been released so far. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll from July, 69 percent of Americans believe the federal government is withholding important information from the Epstein investigation, while only 6 percent believe otherwise.
In a social media video addressed to her constituents, Grijalva said that her swearing-in being delayed would be detrimental to the people she is supposed to represent.
“Am I sworn in yet? No. Do I know when I’m going to be sworn in? No. Speaker Johnson has left the building, and unfortunately what that means for us is that southern Arizona does not have a voice here to advocate for you,” Grijalva said, adding that the move means her voters “also don’t have [Congressional] services in the district.”
“I need to get sworn in in order for that to happen,” she added.
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