Grijalva Blasts Early House Recess as ‘An Embarrassment,’ says GOP has made Congress Exceptionally Dysfunctional

U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., returned to Tucson from Washington, D.C., Tuesday night to denounce the House’s early departure from Washington, criticize Republican-led committee priorities and make the case for Democratic majorities in Congress and Arizona government.

She spoke at an event hosted by Democrats of Greater Tucson for members of the Pima County Democratic Party’s Catalina Democrats donors.

Grijalva said she was glad to be home, but said House members should still be at work in Washington.

“So I’m home, which I’m very excited about, but I shouldn’t be home. We should be voting. We have a lot of things that our communities and this country need us to work on.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., first canceled the final two planned weeks of September work and then canceled the House’s last scheduled voting day before a bogus seven-week pre-election recess.

Grijalva said the early recess was especially frustrating because members have introduced legislation on issues she said directly affect constituents: veterans’ benefits, affordability, price gouging, immigration and public education.

“We’ve introduced a lot of legislation in our office. We’re up to 14 bills in 10 months, but we’ve co-sponsored 600 other bills. There are a ton of bills that will help individual people.”

Grijalva is the Democratic representative for Arizona’s 7th Congressional District, which she has represented since 2025. Her legislation includes a recently introduced bill to establish dual-language immersion programs in low-income communities, as well as measures involving Native child welfare, Social Security income, public education, veterans and conservation.

‘We should be talking about them’

Grijalva said those panels should be considering substantive legislation but have instead been consumed by ideological disputes.

“There are bills there. We should be talking about them in our committees. I’m on Education and Workforce and Natural Resources. In those committees, all I’m seeing is the complete devastation of our public lands — overall disregard of tribal sovereignty — no attachment to reality and the fact that our climate is changing, and we have to believe the science and do something about that.”

Her committee assignments closely reflect her political and governmental background. Before winning the congressional seat formerly held by her father, the late Rep. Raúl Grijalva, she served for two decades on the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board and later on the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

Culture-war hearings are an embarrassment

Grijalva singled out a House hearing involving transgender youth participation in sports as an example of what she described as misplaced congressional priorities.

“We had a hearing the other day about trans youth in youth sports, the less than 1% of all youth athletes. No, it’s not an issue for anybody but this niche group, who want to go to their constituents and say, ‘Look at what I’m doing.’”

“For me, it’s an embarrassment. Some of those hearings, where I sit there, and I said, ‘I can’t believe that this is what we’re doing with our time.’”

Congressional Republicans have made legislation and hearings addressing transgender participation in women’s and girls’ sports a prominent part of their education-policy agenda. Grijalva argued that the House should instead be focused on affordability, health care, public education and immigration reform.

She framed that criticism in terms of governing priorities rather than simply partisan disagreement.

“Democrats have to be the party that does the work. Yes, we get the job done. We cannot continue with this idea that we’re just going to play nice, go along. There have to be consequences for the people that have committed atrocities and crimes against our community.”

Calls for change

Grijalva urged attendees to help elect Democrats at every level of government, saying victories in Congress would be more effective if paired with Democratic leadership in state government and local offices.

“We need change. We need change at the state, we need change locally, and we need change in the federal government. You’re part of making sure that we get the majority and get the gavel in January so we can actually get some things done.”

“My dad would have this saying that ‘a society is judged by how we take care of our most vulnerable’ — our seniors and our babies. And we’re not doing the job right now. We need to do better. We can do better,” she said. “Our seniors deserve to retire with dignity and grace. People should not go broke and into debt because of a medical crisis. We have to have health care for everyone.”

Grijalva also called for comprehensive immigration reform, a longtime priority for Southern Arizona Democrats and for her father during his 22-year congressional tenure.

“Comprehensive immigration reform is something we have to take action on in this Congress. My dad was in Congress for 22 years. I’ve been there 10 months. I’m not sure how he did this for 22 years.”

She said Democrats should identify areas of agreement, pursue them quickly and be prepared to set out a governing agenda immediately if they win back the House.

“I want to get to the issues we know we can agree on, knock those out and take action. In the first 10 hours that we have the gavel, we’re going to push these bills. In the first 10 days, we’re going to do this. We’re going to have these hearings. Those are the things we’re planning right now as a party.”

‘Sanity and peace’

Grijalva described the current Congress as exceptionally dysfunctional, adding that veteran members had told her the atmosphere is unlike anything they had previously experienced.

“Everyone tells me, ‘Do not judge Congress by this experience right now,’ because it is the most dysfunctional — everyone, anyone who’s been there for any period of time, says this is the craziest that they’ve ever seen.”

The congresswoman closed on a personal note, identifying herself as the mother of three sons, including a University of Arizona student and an 18-year-old new voter.

“I want them to have more opportunities than I did. And this is the first time in my lifetime that I’ve looked out into a sea of high school graduates and wondered if we actually are going to give them more than we had.”

She said restoring a basic commitment to inclusion, stability and public service should be central to Democrats’ campaign and governing message.

“I hope to bring sanity and peace and have those standards — some joy — back in people’s lives, and some stability, ethics and morality.”

“We want to bring back the idea that diversity, equity and inclusion are not bad words — that it’s something that we need to understand.”

And she ended with a direct electoral appeal:

“We need to get them across the finish line so we can have a majority. Let’s do this.”