Arizona Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva is expected to be sworn into the House of Representatives as early as Wednesday, more than 7 weeks after recall vote won that special election to replace her late father.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to swear in Grijalva until the government shutdown is over. With a bipartisan deal to fund the government now in the works, the House will be reconvening — and a first order of business will be to bring Grijalva into the chamber.
Grijalva's vote as early as Wednesday could be a deciding factor on whether the Justice Department releases files relating to the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
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Typically the Speaker of the House is the one who brings votes to the floor, but in this case Johnson elected not to hold a vote on the Epstein files.
Instead, the House of Representatives needs to gather at least 218 signatures to enforce what's known as a discharge petition, which would force the bill into consideration.
Until this special election, Democrats in the chamber only had 217 members willing to sign on to the petition, including the four Republicans supporting the release of the Epstein files.
The last time the House was fully in session was Sept. 19. Since then, the chamber has only been open for so-called pro forma sessions, when no roll call votes are taken.
