With Congress making progress towards ending the government shutdown, Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva could be sworn into office at some point this week.
Grijalva won a special election seven weeks ago to replace her late father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, in Arizona’s Congressional District 7 but has yet to be officially sworn into office.
Grijalva told KJZZ she still hasn’t communicated directly with Speaker Mike Johnson about when he will swear her in.
“I’ve had no direct communication with Speaker Johnson,” she said in a text message.
But, in a statement, she said she is travelling to Washington, D.C., after hearing from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that Johnson plans to swear her in as lawmakers consider a new proposal to reopen the government.
A spokesman for the speaker indicated that is the case.
“This isn’t anything new. The speaker has said all along that he plans to swear in Rep. Elect Grijalva when Democrats vote to reopen the government,” spokesman Griffin Neal said in an email.
Neal referenced comments Johnson made in October.
“Rep. Grijalva won her race in, I think it was the last week of September after we had already gone out of session. So I will administer the oath to her I hope on the first day we come back into legislative session. I'm willing and anxious to do that,” Johnson said on Oct. 20.
In a press conference Monday, Johnson told House members to begin returning to Washington for a potential vote later this week on a proposal to reopen the government, which first needs to pass a final vote in the Senate. The House could take up the matter within 36 hours after Senate approval.
When she is seated, Grijalva will have waited longer than any congressional special election winner in the 21st century.
In a statement, she criticized Johnson for his decision not to swear her in earlier.
“This delay never should have never happened in the first place. For seven weeks, 813,000 Arizonans have been denied a voice and access to basic constituent services. This is an abuse of power that no Speaker should have,” she said in a statement.
She also indicated she is not in favor of the spending deal currently working its way through the Senate with some Democratic support, because it doesn’t include measures to continue federal subsidies to prevent Affordable Care Act insurance premiums from spiking. Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego are both opposed to the measure.
“While I am eager to get to work, I am disappointed that one of my first votes will be on a bill that does nothing to protect working people from skyrocketing premiums, loss of health coverage, or do anything significant to rein in Trump’s abuse of power,” Grijalva said.
After being sworn in, Grijalva is also expected to provide the decisive 218th vote needed to force a vote in the House to release the Epstein files.
