Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., speaks outdoors the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Greater than three weeks after profitable her congressional race, Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva by no means imagined her struggle to get sworn into workplace would take this lengthy.
The Arizona Democrat has keys to her workplace, however not a lot else.
“I’ve no employees … The telephones do not work. There is no laptop,” Grijalva says from her sparsely furnished workplace on Capitol Hill. “We do not have a authorities e mail.”
That bumpy begin to Grijalva’s new political profession in Washington is courtesy of the identical intense, partisan tensions which have come to dominate the 119th Congress.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., says he will not swear in Grijalva till the federal government shutdown is over.
“That is the method of the Home, we’ll do it as quickly as we get again to enterprise,” he mentioned.
It is a departure for Johnson, who has beforehand sworn in new members from each events inside days of profitable their races.
The Speaker had beforehand mentioned he would swear within the winner of the Arizona race as quickly as they needed. He later mentioned the winner ought to benefit from the “pomp and circumstance” that is a part of the ceremony, however solely accessible when the federal government is open.
Consequently, Johnson is going through accusations from each side of the aisle that he is attempting to keep away from a vote to compel the discharge of information from the Justice Division’s investigation into convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Grijalva received her seat on Sept. twenty third in a particular election to symbolize the state’s seventh congressional district — a border district that features elements of Tucson.
On the marketing campaign path, Grijalva promised to signal onto a bipartisan petition to drive a vote within the Home to launch the Epstein information. Hers would mark the decisive 218th signature to set off that vote — an effort that is been led by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
“I keep in mind on election evening, somebody got here as much as me and mentioned, ‘I do not assume they will swear you in due to these Epstein information,'” Grijalva says. “And I assumed, ‘oh my gosh, that is very a lot a conspiracy concept. Like that is not going to occur.’ And right here we’re.”
Johnson has referred to as claims that he is attempting to delay Grijalva’s swearing in a “partisan manufactured factor.”
He says Republicans are already engaged on releasing data as a part of an investigation being led by the GOP-led Home Oversight Committee.
“The bulldogs in Congress are on that committee, they usually’re all joined collectively in a bipartisan trend digging by way of and releasing paperwork,” Johnson informed reporters earlier this week.
Speaker of the Home Mike Johnson, R-La., arrives to speak to reporters in regards to the authorities shutdown on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Johnson’s explanations have infuriated Grijalva’s supporters. Democrats have taken to the Home flooring to name for her to be seated. On Tuesday, a bunch of lawmakers marched to Johnson’s workplace chanting, “Swear her in.”
The delay has additionally angered these hoping for a vote on the Epstein information. Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has accused Johnson of “defending pedophiles,” and through a tense change outdoors of the Speaker’s workplace final week, mentioned Johnson was delaying the swearing in as a result of he doesn’t need Grijalva to signal the discharge petition. Johnson referred to as the allegation “completely absurd,” saying Democrats are “consultants at purple herrings.”
The standoff might be inching its approach towards the courts. On Tuesday, after the state licensed Grijalva’s election outcomes, Arizona Legal professional Normal Kris Mayes threatened authorized motion to attempt to drive the oath of workplace.
Grijalva is the daughter of her predecessor — the late Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who held the seat for greater than 20 years till his demise from lung most cancers in March.
Grijalva says her dad set a excessive bar in workplace together with his constituents, one she hopes to comply with as soon as she’s lastly seated.
She tears up when she considers what he would make of her struggle to get seated.
“I feel he would simply be kinda laughing,” she mentioned, “scratching his head at like, my child is, you understand, making a splash.”
Colorado Public Radio’s Caitlyn Kim contributed to this report
