Arizona Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D) said Thursday that House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) decision not to swear her in six weeks after being elected to office is “negligent and cruel.”
“House Speaker Mike Johnson’s recess of the U.S. House of Representatives during a time of grave national crises is shockingly irresponsible,” she wrote in a USA Today op-ed.
“House Republicans have been on vacation for six weeks while our economy crumbles, federal workers go without paychecks, health care premiums skyrocket and funding for food stamps dwindles. This is negligent and cruel,” she added.
Grijalva said she’s waited longer than any representative “in recent history to be sworn in following a special election.”
She’s been awaiting the opportunity to replace her late father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), after edging out four other challengers in the Democratic primary.
“As these crises unfold and intensify, Speaker Johnson refuses to swear me into office, an unprecedented and starkly undemocratic position that sets a very dangerous precedent and deprives 813,000 Arizonans of the congressional representation they deserve,” Adelita Grijalva wrote, citing concerns amid the government shutdown.
She alleged Johnson has prolonged her swearing-in to prevent the release of files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Speaker Johnson, of course, denies this association. He has provided a litany of excuses that seem to change by the day, including the claim that he is following the ‘Pelosi precedent’ in waiting for Congress to return to regular session to swear me in,” Grijalva wrote.
“However, unlike the speaker emerita, Speaker Johnson appears to be intentionally canceling votes to prolong a manufactured ‘recess’ and prevent me from being sworn in,” she continued.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has also shared outrage for the delay in delivering the oath of office to Grijalva.
“It’s a disgrace that Mike Johnson and Republicans continue to refuse to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva,” Jeffries told reporters last month in the Capitol.
“It’s disrespectful of her; it’s disrespectful to the 812,000 who elected her; it’s disrespectful to the great state of Arizona; and it’s disrespectful to the House of Representatives.”
Jeffries said he supports Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) and Grijalva’s attempts to legally resolve the dispute in court.
“We believe this is an abuse of power that strikes at the foundation of our democracy – the ability to have representation in the people’s House,” she wrote in the Thursday opinion piece.
“In fact, my district has one of the highest participation rates in SNAP in the country. Put simply, the people who are hurt most by this government shutdown lack basic representation in Congress. That is an injustice. It’s time for Speaker Johnson to end his vacation and get back to the work that the American people elected us to do.”
