Speaker Mike Johnson has no plans to allow the newest elected Democrats to be sworn in until her party agrees to end the government shutdown, despite telling CNN earlier Tuesday that he would swear her in “as soon as she wants.”
“We will swear in Rep.-elect [Adelita] Grijalva as soon as the House returns to session when Chuck Schumer, Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego decide to open the government,” a leadership aide said Tuesday.
The move amounts to an extraordinary power play to deny a seat to an incumbent member.
While the leadership aide argued, “It is a common practice in the House to swear in members when the chamber is in legislative session,” Johnson swore in Florida GOP representatives. Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine during a Pro Forma session earlier this year.
As the government shutdown has continued without the Senate being able to reach a deal to fund the government, the House has held brief “pro forma” sessions during which the chamber quickly exits and does not engage in legislative business.
Johnson, asked earlier Tuesday why he had not sworn in Grijalva during a Pro Forma session when she was elected in September and whether it was connected to a push to vote on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein Case files, said: “No, it has nothing to do with anything at all.
“Look, we'll schedule it, I think, as soon as she wants. It has nothing to do with it. I, we're in Pro Forma session because the House is nothing to do. The House has done its job,” the speaker said when pressed by CNN on why he was waiting for the full House to return.
Grijalva is expected to provide the final signature needed on a petition to force a full House vote on releasing further materials in the Epstein case, but Johnson has insisted the delay in her swearing-in is not related to that issue.
Johnson did not explain why he has chosen to defer her curses, even though he has treated other members differently.
“Speaker Johnson needs to stop dragging his feet and following the same precedent he flew into his Republican colleagues earlier this year. If he would just give me a date and time, I will be there,” Grijalva said in a statement to CNN.
The incoming congresswoman, who won a special election two weeks ago, has called on Johnson to set a date for her swearing in, arguing in a letter to the speaker on Monday that the delay is “depriving the people of southern Arizona of essential constituent services.”
Rep. Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, told reporters at the Capitol on Monday that it is “outrageous” that Grijalva had not yet been sworn in.
“This is outrageous. You have the White House undermining our democracy. Now you have the Speaker of the House doing the same thing. I mean, this is all about a continuation of the Epstein Cover Up,” he said.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN's Ellis Kim contributed to this report.
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