Johnson, Kelly and Gallego clash over Grijalva oath amid shutdown

House Speaker Mike Johnson and two Arizona Democratic senators engaged in a heated hallway confrontation Wednesday over the speaker’s decision not to swear in Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva while the federal government remains shut down. The exchange, which unfolded outside Johnson’s Capitol office as the shutdown entered its second week, highlighted mounting disputes over both the mechanics of seating a new member and the broader stalemate that has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed and raised the prospect of missed military paychecks.

Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego pressed Johnson to administer the oath to Grijalva, who won a special election earlier this month to fill the seat of her late father, former Representative Raúl Grijalva. The senators said she should be allowed to take office now; they and other Democrats argue her signature could be decisive on a discharge petition aimed at forcing a House vote to release files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Gallego said Johnson was delaying the swearing-in to deny Democrats that procedural leverage. “You guys just don’t want her to be on the Epstein discharge petition,” he said.