Johnson calls House back into session

With the shutdown finally about to end, Speaker Johnson (R-LA) has finally called the House back into session. This will result in a flurry of activity, starting with a new member of Congress being sworn in.

The new member is a Democrat, which means the Epstein discharge petition will soon be on the House floor.

Taking her seat

With the House now back in session, Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) will finally be able to take her seat.

She posted to X, “After seven weeks of waiting, I almost can’t believe it’s true,” with a banner on her page that states, “Release the files.”

In anticipation of the files being released, Democrats cherry-picked a handful of emails between Epstein and some of his associates that named Donald Trump.

This, to me, was the Democrats' way of getting back at Republicans after they took it on the chin in the battle over the continuing resolution.

Back in session

Johnson stood firm that while the government was shut down, he would not hold any House sessions.

This was criticized by both sides, with many Republicans wondering how far back this would set legislative efforts, especially with 2026 and a likely loss of the House ahead of the GOP.

Matthew Green, a professor at the politics department at The Catholic University of America, stated, “What Speaker Johnson and Republicans are doing, you have to go back decades to find an example where the House — either chamber — decided not to meet.”

After swearing in Grijalva, the House will vote on the funding bill, then Johnson is going to have to deal with that discharge petition.

The petition

The discharge petition was co-sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA).

They only need a simple majority to get the petition on the floor for a vote, and the new Democrat will give them 218 votes to accomplish that.

Grijalva already jumped at her chance in the spotlight, stating, “Just this morning, House Democrats released more emails showing that [President] Trump knew more about Epstein’s abuses than he previously acknowledged. It’s about time for Congress to restore its role as a check and balance on this administration and fight for we, the American people.”

The emails to which she referred were cherry-picked and taken out of context, so I am not really sure how much damage will be done to Trump once the files are released. Personally, I cannot wait for them to be published so we can finally put this nonsense behind us. Put them out there, and let the chips fall where they may.