GIMME A BREAK

Mike Johnson Gives Congress a Vacation During Shutdown

The House Speaker just gave Congress a week off while a key vote on the Epstein files hangs in the balance.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is sending Congress home while a newly elected congresswoman—who is a key vote on the Epstein files release—still awaits swearing in.

On Friday afternoon, House Reading Clerk Susan Cole read an announcement from Mike Johnson in which the Speaker declared that Oct. 7 through Oct. 13 would be a “district work period” for Congress. On paper, a “district work period” is a time when congresspeople go to their home districts to talk with their constituents.

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This district work period should not stall talks to reopen the government. The House already passed a budget bill approving federal funding, and the stalemate causing the shutdown is in the Senate.

However, it will stall one significant bit of business on Congress’s agenda: the swearing in of the newly elected Arizona Democrat, Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva.

Grijalva vowed to sign a House resolution to force a vote on legislation instructing the Department of Justice to release all of its investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein. Grijalva would give the bipartisan resolution the final signature needed to bring the vote to the floor. Johnson, for an undisclosed reason, has been dragging his feet on swearing in the newly elected congresswomen.

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“The government is in full shutdown and the Republicans are refusing to call the House back into session. Want to know why? Because we have secured the final vote on releasing the Epstein Files and they don’t want it out,” tweeted Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

On Thursday, Mike Johnson told CBS News that Congress would get around to swearing in Grijalva “next week.” However, Friday’s “district work period” announcement means Congress won’t be in session that week, save for Monday.

Congress will meet on Monday, Oct. 6 in a “pro forma” session, which the Senate website defines as “a brief meeting of the Senate or House, often only a few minutes in duration, during which business is not usually conducted.”

It is not unprecedented for Congress to swear in a new member during a pro forma session or when Congress is in recess, as Democrats reminded Johnson in a letter on Thursday. Johnson swore in Republican Reps. Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine in pro forma sessions in 2025, and swore in Virginia Democrat James Walkinshaw in a pro forma session on Sept. 10.

The Daily Beast has reached out to Mike Johnson’s office asking if he plans to swear in Grijalva next week despite the upcoming “district work period.”

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Adam DownerBreaking News Reporter

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