House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday went after GOP leaders for refusing to seat a newly elected Democrat, saying the delay is depriving hundreds of thousands of Americans a voice in Washington.
“It’s a disgrace that Mike Johnson and Republicans continue to refuse to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva,” Jeffries told reporters 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.”
Moments earlier, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) had gone to the floor in an effort to advance a motion requiring GOP leaders to swear in Grijalva on the next legislative day, which is scheduled for Friday. Because Johnson (R-La.) has canceled all House votes during the shutdown, Raskin’s move came during a pro forma meeting — a brief and routine session allowing one chamber to recess for three days at a time without the consent of the other.
Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-Fla.), who was presiding over the chamber, ignored Raskin’s entreaties and quickly gaveled the session closed.
Johnson has repeatedly defended his move not to seat Grijalva, saying he’s just following a long-held House tradition of swearing in new members only during regular sessions. When Democrats help to reopen the government, Johnson says, he’ll call the House back to Washington and immediately seat Grijalva.
Johnson, however, has applied a different standard to his fellow Republicans. In April, after two Florida Republicans won special elections to the House, Johnson used a pro forma session to swear them in within 24 hours of their victories. The Speaker has said he made an exception in those cases because the lawmakers’ families were already in Washington.
Grijalva, who was elected on Sept. 23, has rejected that argument, saying the delay has prevented her from helping district voters weather the federal closures and other hardships created by the shutdown.
“While we’re getting a lot of attention for not being sworn in, I’d rather get the attention for doing my job,” Grijalva said. “And I can’t do that right now.”
