There’s been an update in Democrat congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva’s quest to finally be sworn in by Speaker Mike Johnson. A leadership aide for the Republican leadership in Congress has now tied her swearing-in to the Democrats reopening the government. Grijalva won the South Arizona special election on September 3 and made it clear that her first priority as a newly sworn-in Congresswoman would be to help bring closure to the Jeffrey Epstein saga. What was once a bipartisan goal has become far more complex since Trump dismissed the possibility of an Epstein cover-up as a hoax. Since then, most Republicans have fallen in line, showing little interest in making the files public. Congress is currently in gridlock, and just one signature is needed to force a vote on whether the Epstein files should be released. That vote would reveal exactly who opposes exposing Epstein’s co-conspirators. With the midterms approaching, such a vote could easily determine the future of several lawmakers. Speaker Johnson, however, insists that Grijalva’s delayed swearing-in has nothing to do with the Epstein files. When pressed by CNN on the hold-up, he responded, “No, it has nothing to do with that at all. We will swear her in when everybody gets back. It’s a ceremonial duty. Look, we’ll schedule it, I guess, as soon as she wants. It has nothing to do with it. I — we’re in pro forma session because there is nothing for the House to do.” That claim has since been contradicted. Reports now indicate that the GOP is deliberately holding up Grijalva’s swearing-in as a “power play” amid high-stakes negotiations during the government shutdown. A senior aide to the Republican leadership stated, “We will swear in Rep.-Elect Grijalva as soon as the House returns to session when Chuck Schumer, Mark Kelly, and Ruben Gallego decide to open up the government.” Grijalva is understandably frustrated that her long-awaited swearing-in keeps being delayed by new conditions with seemingly every passing week. It’s now been over a month since her election victory, and she points out that her future Republican colleagues faced no such delay when they were elected earlier this year. She argues that Speaker Johnson should simply follow the precedent already set. Democrats in Congress are calling the move alarming. Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts called the Speaker’s decision “outrageous,” saying that while the White House has been accused of undermining democracy, that tendency has clearly spread to the GOP-led legislative branch as well. Democrats in Congress are already saying there’s cause for alarm. Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts called the Speaker’s move “outrageous” and said that at first, it was the White House undermining democracy, but that has clearly trickled down to the legislative arm of the GOP. Ultimately, however, the people most affected are the constituents who are supposed to be represented by Grijalva, and who have had no office to forward their concerns to for over a month. Grijalva maintains that she’s ready at any time, saying, “If he would simply give me a date and time, I will be there.”