Senator Jeff Merkley took to X to express his discontent with the government shutdown and the delayed swearing-in of Rep. Adelita Grijalva.
In the post, Merkley pointed out that Arizona Rep. Grijalva was elected to Congress more than two weeks ago. She won a special election in Arizona, taking the seat over from her late father, the former Democratic rep in the area.
Merkley points to the government shutdown and “Speaker Johnson and House Republicans” who “fled Washington, D.C., refusing to do their JOBS.”
The tweet ends with, “Really makes you wonder what’s in those Epstein files….”
Rep. Grijalva had made her intentions to be the final signature needed on a bi-partisan bill that would compel a vote that would make the Department of Justice release the “Epstein Files.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson told The Hill that Grijalva’s swearing-in has not been postponed because of her impending signature, but because of the government shutdown.
“We’ll schedule it, I guess, whenever she wants. It has nothing to do with it,” Johnson told The Hill on Oct. 7
However, CNN later reported, that a leadership aide said a contradictory statement, “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 up the government.”
Merkley’s replies are full of people telling him to do something about it, but only in special circumstances can someone other than the Speaker of the House swear in a member of the House.
A government shutdown does not prohibit a newly elected member from being sworn in.
The leadership aide responded to criticism of the comment by saying it is customary to swear in members when the chamber is in session. That’s largely true; however, earlier this year, Johnson swore in two republican representatives to Congress during a pro forma session.
Pro forma sessions are sessions that can be called, where no business is conducted.
On April 1, the public House records show that the next meeting would be on April 2, at 6 p.m. for a pro forma session.
On April 2, Johnson swore in two Florida representatives. Johnson said that he swore those reps in because they had “prescheduled a date for their oath of office, so they had all of their family and friends and supports fly into town.” He said the government unexpectedly went out of session, so he did it as a courtesy to those representatives and their families.
Pro forma sessions can be called during a government shutdown, according to The Hill. Democrats have sought to use pro forma sessions to talk about the issue of Grijalva’s swearing in to no avail.
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