With the federal government teetering on the brink of a shutdown, U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark is calling for the chamber’s top Republican to work to avert it, and to swear in a newly elected Democratic lawmaker from Arizona.
The plea from Clark, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., comes ahead of a Monday afternoon meeting between congressional leaders and President Donald Trump.
The government could shut down as soon as Wednesday, the end of the federal fiscal year, if lawmakers don’t pass a stopgap or permanent funding bill.
Johnson has said he plans to bring the House back into session next week, all but guaranteeing at least a brief shuttering of the government.
In a Monday letter to Johnson, Clark, D-5th District, urged the chamber’s presiding officer to reschedule votes, and allow for the swearing-in of U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., who won a special election last week.
“Democrats will be in Washington, D.C. this week to fund the government in a manner that strengthens the health care of millions of Americans and protects the most vulnerable from harmful cuts to critical services,” Clark, the chamber’s Democratic whip, wrote.
“We ask that you reverse your decision to cancel votes on Tuesday, September 30,” she continued. “If you remain unwilling to call the House into session, Representative-elect Grijalva should be sworn in during the pro forma session on Tuesday.”
Reporting by NYMag’s Intelligencer last week indicated that Johnson, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, may have an incentive to delay Grijalva’s swearing-in because it gives lawmakers advocating for the release of the Epstein Files the votes they need to make it happen.
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Grijalva, of Tuscon, has indicated she intends to sign a discharge petition, which would force a vote. Her swearing in also would narrow the Republicans’ already slender majority in the chamber.
In her letter to Johnson, Clark also argued that residents in Johnson’s district have gone unrepresented since her father, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, died earlier this year.
“The people of Arizona’s 7th district have been without representation since the untimely death of Representative-elect Grijalva’s father,” Clark argued.
“Any delay in swearing in Representative-elect Grijalva unnecessarily deprives her constituents of representation and calls into question if the motive behind the delay is to further avoid the release of the Epstein files,” she said.