As the federal government prepares to shut down at midnight, the House of Representatives remains absent from the nation’s capital, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) refusing to bring members back for emergency votes that could prevent the funding lapse. 

Johnson announced earlier this week that the House would remain out of session until October 7, even as negotiations over government funding have stalled between Republicans and Democrats. The Speaker defended the decision by arguing that the House had already “completed its work” by passing a funding resolution, and that members are in their districts “on the ready” to return if needed.

The Senate rejected the House’s funding bill, with Democrats refusing to support the measure without additional healthcare provisions that Republicans have declined to include. This standoff has left the government without funding as the fiscal year ends at midnight Tuesday.

The House’s absence from Washington has created a constitutional bottleneck that virtually guarantees a government shutdown tonight. While the Senate voted on two competing funding proposals this evening, the resolutions could not have been enacted as one chamber (the House) remains deliberately out of session until October 7. 

The shutdown drama has been overshadowed by an equally contentious issue: Johnson’s refusal to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election last week by nearly 40 points to succeed her late father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.). The delay has sparked accusations from Democrats that Johnson is deliberately preventing Grijalva from taking office to avoid a vote on releasing documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I’m number 218,” Grijalva said in a television interview, referencing the discharge petition. She has accused Johnson of “dragging his feet” on her swearing-in despite having received official election results immediately after her decisive victory.

The controversy has intensified because Johnson appears to be breaking his own party’s precedent. In April, two Florida Republicans — Reps. Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis — were sworn in during pro forma sessions just 24 hours after winning their special elections. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) pointed to this precedent in a letter to Johnson, writing that “common practice in the House of Representatives requires that Representatives-elect in special elections in which results are not in doubt be sworn in at the earliest opportunity.”

The discharge petition at the center of the controversy has been years in the making. Massie, a persistent Trump critic, has accused members of his own party of “protecting pedophiles” to avoid embarrassing revelations about wealthy Republican donors. The petition currently has 217 signatures — every House Democrat plus four Republicans: Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.).

The legislation would mandate the Justice Department to publicly post all records related to its investigations of both Epstein, who died by suicide in federal custody in 2019, and Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking crimes. Trump had promised during his campaign to release the Epstein files but has since backtracked, calling the entire situation a “hoax” orchestrated by Democrats.

Sources familiar with the situation report that top GOP leaders and White House allies are working behind the scenes to prevent the Epstein vote from reaching the House floor. Some Republicans who signed the petition are being quietly urged to withdraw their support, though key signatories like Boebert have stated they have no intention of removing their names.

House Rules Committee Republicans have indicated they will not assist Johnson in blocking the vote this time, unlike previous attempts to kill discharge petitions. If Grijalva is sworn in and signs the petition, supporters would need to wait for additional legislative days before approaching the floor with the discharge motion, potentially leading to a vote during the week of October 20.