Nov. 12, 2025 23:51-00:24 - CSPAN
32:52
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
Source
Participants
| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
Adelita Grijalva's Inauguration
00:15:12
|
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| Fills her father's shoes, or she's going to try. | ||
| No one can. | ||
|
unidentified
|
No one can. | |
| He was a giant around here, served a long time, served his state very well. | ||
| I served under him in the Natural Resources Committee for a while and admired the way he did the work. | ||
| He was tenacious. | ||
| So she has a proud family legacy, and we're delighted to have her here. | ||
| She may not agree with me, but we follow the custom of the House on the timetable. | ||
| And we've had a little, as we say in the deep south, some intense fellowship about that. | ||
| But she's here now, and I promised that we would have her administered before we began legislative business, so she hasn't missed a vote. | ||
| And we're delighted you're here. | ||
| So anything I can do to help you? | ||
| As I do, all members are happy to get you acclimated and do everything. | ||
| But you know more than most because your dad was here for a long time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I visited. | |
| I never did this job. | ||
| So this is Brian's banking news. | ||
| So I will take the offer of help. | ||
| Congratulations. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Thank you so much. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I gave it turned on. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus welcomed the newly sworn in Democratic Representative Adelita Grijalva of Arizona at a news conference. | |
| Okay. | ||
| I'm Congressman Adriano Spayad, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. | ||
| Today, nearly one million Arizonians finally, finally regain their voice that has been illegally denied to them for far too long. | ||
| Two months of delay was not just unprecedented. | ||
| It was unacceptable. | ||
| I think it was illegal. | ||
| The Constitution guarantees representation, and all of us in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including now Adelita Grijalva, will defend that. | ||
| We will defend that. | ||
| Adelita Grijalva swearing in 50 days after she won an election strengthens our fight for the environment, for environmental justice for Latinos across America as they face an assault like no one has ever seen before. | ||
| It strengthens working-class families, affordable health care, and of course, it will bring transparency on the Epstein files. | ||
| Every vote counts in America. | ||
| Cada voto cuenta. | ||
| Republican excuses have run dry. | ||
| It's time to bring a vote on the Epstein files to the floor and stop hiding the truth to the American people. | ||
| That's all they want. | ||
| The truth. | ||
| The American people deserve the truth. | ||
| With this vote, we are closer and even will hold those in power accountable that are hiding from the American people. | ||
| The era of obstructionism and secrecy ends today. | ||
| And it ends with a name, Adelita Grijalva. | ||
| And we will not rest until justice prevail. | ||
| With that, I want to introduce quiero presentad, the Democratic caucus chair, Pete Aguilar. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Thank you, Chairman Espayat. | ||
| It's an honor to be with my congressional Hispanic colleagues as well as members of the Democratic caucus and to welcome Adelita Grajalva to our ranks. | ||
| Let's be clear. | ||
| This moment should have happened two months ago. | ||
| But Speaker Johnson and Republican leadership seem to use their special election to set a new record, the longest time a member of elect has had to wait to be sworn in. | ||
| There is no justification to deny Arizonans of their representation, and Speaker Johnson literally twisted himself into knots trying to explain it. | ||
| But we all know the real reason. | ||
| Donald Trump and Republican leadership are hell-bent on keeping the Epstein files hidden from the American people. | ||
| As Leader Jeffrey says, they're running a pedophile protection program. | ||
| Today, the House Oversight Committee obtained more damning emails from Jeffrey Epstein's estate that raised serious questions about Donald Trump's involvement in Mr. Epstein's crimes. | ||
| As recently as today, the White House was trying to switch GOP votes on the petition to continue these cover-up efforts. | ||
| Now, with Representative Grajalva in Congress, we will have the votes necessary to force transparency and accountability. | ||
| And importantly, Arizonans will finally have a member who is able to carry out their work to represent their interests and to be their voice in Congress. | ||
| I'm proud of the work Congresswoman Grajalva has already done for her constituents while being wrongly kept out of Congress. | ||
| She has gone above and beyond, and I look forward to working with her in the years to come as we lower costs, save health care, and improve the lives of the American people. | ||
| With that, I'd like to now introduce a ranking member on the Small Business Committee, Nidia Velasquez. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Aguilar, and Adriano Espayat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. | ||
| Speaker Johnson has finally thrown in Adelita Grijalba, and the people of Arizona's 7th congressional district once again have representation in Congress. | ||
| For seven weeks, the Speaker left the people of Arizona 7th without representation, without access to constituent services, and without a voice here in Washington. | ||
| It was cynical, shameful, and unprecedented. | ||
| And all because the Speaker wanted to delay the release of the Epstein files for as long as possible at the direction of his boss, Donald Trump, a 34-time convicted felon, sexual abuser, and longtime friend of pedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. | ||
| If there was any doubt, just look at what happened today. | ||
| As Adelita prepared to be sworn in, the White House was working the funds, desperately trying to get a Republican to remove their name from the discharge petition. | ||
| But they cannot stop the truth from coming out. | ||
| Now that Adelita is here, we will ensure these files see the light of day and that justice is served. | ||
| And let me close by saying how excited I am to work with Adelita. | ||
| She is a strong voice for working people and will be an invaluable member of Congress. | ||
| Me siento sumamente hor guyosa de dad le la bienvenida Adelita Grijalba aquí y sobre todo exponer la conducta a lo mejor ilegal de la speaker de la camera. | ||
| De no aver la juramentado simplemente, simplemente porque el presidente Donald Trum se lo a pedido porque el sabe que ese esa firma de Adelita hoy en el discharge petition. | ||
| Le va a creal problemas y va a revelar la verdad. | ||
| El pueblo delo vetados unidos se merece la verdad y tener acceso a esse informe como el se había con prometido. | ||
| And now it is my pleasure to invite CAC WIP Silvia Garcia. | ||
| Thank you and thank you to the chair. | ||
| Thank you to our caucus chair and thank you, muchisi mas graces, to the people of Arizona in sending us Adelita to Congress. | ||
| You know, you said it in your remarks, which were excellent remarks, that Er es la primera pero noros la ltima. | ||
| And you're absolutely correct because I know that there will be many others to follow you because your record is there, your father's legacy is there, and we know the good people that come from Arizona. | ||
| So muchisio mas graces, thank you for joining us. | ||
| You know, when I think about it, I mean, who would really want to mess with somebody named Adelita? | ||
| I mean, not only is it a great name, but it stands for warriors and fighters. | ||
| And that's what she is. | ||
| I looked at her when she was getting sworn in. | ||
| I mean, imagine the courage that she has, the determination, the patience, the stamina, the grace. | ||
| I've watched her. | ||
| She's been doing all this with all this pressure with great grace. | ||
| And seven weeks is a long time to have to wait. | ||
| And it is just shameful that the Speaker wouldn't do his job because that's what it boils down to. | ||
| He had no respect for the voters of Arizona. | ||
| He was about bending the knee to the wishes of the felon in the White House to protect that felon and other felons and pedophiles that may be implicated through the Epstein files. | ||
| But you know what? | ||
| It took a Latina conco Jones to do it because she is not only making history, as she said, la primera per no la ltima, that's history. | ||
| She's the first Latina coming from Arizona. | ||
| As one of two first Latinas coming from Texas, welcome, girl. | ||
| So that's history already. | ||
| And now she's waited for 50 days, again history, the longest that someone said to ever wait in the United States Congress to be sworn in. | ||
| That's shameful history on the part of Speaker Johnson, but it's history nonetheless. | ||
| Now she's making history again because her first action was to go there and sign that petition. | ||
| And if we force that vote, it will be a historic vote because we will be making something that many people try to hide, many people wanted to avoid. | ||
| Many excuses were made, but but for this one strong Latina with courage, it would not have happened. | ||
| So today we, as our caucus chair mentioned, the Oversight Committee has given us more emails that implicate the felon in the White House even more. | ||
| And I'm very hopeful that we will get a vote and that we will get justice for all those victims and that we will put an end to some of the predatory practices of not only all those implicated in the Epstein files but others who may have also exhibited that conduct because it's just wrong. | ||
| But let's all remember that it took our adelita to ensure that justice would be done for all those victims. | ||
| With that, I yield back and we ask our Comps Vice Chair Norma Torres from California to come up next. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman Espayat. | ||
| Thank you, Caucus Chairman Pediaguilar, for your leadership in bringing all of us together here. | ||
| Today is a very powerful day for democracy, for representation, but most of all for me, it's a powerful day for Latinas in Congress. | ||
| Latinas who have to fight twice as hard to simply be heard. | ||
| Since the 19th Amendment, women have had to fight to keep our seat at the table. | ||
| For Latinas, that fight is relentless. | ||
| We work twice as hard, we push twice as far, and they will stop at nothing to take what is ours. | ||
| Under this administration and Republican majority, those attacks have only doubled down. | ||
| They want power over everything, and they target women without shame. | ||
| After more than seven weeks of delay, Congresswoman Adelita Grajalva has finally taken the seat that she rightfully earned on the floor of the United States Congress representing the people of Arizona's 7th District. | ||
| But we will not forget that for all of these weeks, she has had to work without staff, without the office equipment, without the security support that is afforded to every other member of Congress. | ||
|
Welcoming Congresswoman Grijalva
00:09:14
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| Her swearing in, she becomes the 218th signatory on the Epstein, the e-file petition, a fight for both transparency and women's voices. | ||
| She will never back down, and neither are we. | ||
| She brings roots, courage, and the fearlessness to stand her ground, even though her position had been denied. | ||
| We are so honored to welcome Adelita to the rank and file membership of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the big and powerful Democratic Caucus. | ||
| We will too earn our majority in the next election. | ||
| Hoyes 1 Día muy importante histórico para la democracia para la representación y para cada Latina que atenido que luchar el doble para ser escuchada. | ||
| Después más de sieto semanas de demora, la congresista Adelita Grijalva finalmente ocupa el escaño que le pertenese. | ||
| Con sujuramento se convierte en la firmamente en numero dosientos y asiocho en la hista paradar las los archivos del Epstein. | ||
| Una lucha para transparencia y por la vos de todas las mujeres. | ||
| Adelita núnca serendio. | ||
| Bienvenida al congreso congresista Grijalva y estamos muy contentos con tú decición de seguir trabajando y luchando. | ||
|
unidentified
|
U cheiras. | |
| And now I would like to welcome, let's see, Vice Chair Andrea Salinas. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good afternoon, and I want to thank the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and our chair, Congressman Aguilar. | |
| And first off, Felicidades to Congresswoman Adelita Grijava, Familia sus hijos. | ||
| For more than two months, Mike Johnson delayed, denied, and lied to avoid swearing in Congresswoman Grijava. | ||
| For Speaker Johnson, it was about silence. | ||
| This was about silencing Congresswoman Grijava. | ||
| This was about silencing hundreds of thousands of Arizonans, robbing them of their voice in Congress. | ||
| And this was about silencing the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, all to protect Donald Trump. | ||
| However, let Congresswoman Grijava's swearing-in be a lesson to all of us. | ||
| She, her constituents, and the victims will not be silenced. | ||
| Ultimately, justice will prevail and the truth will come to light. | ||
| That is what today is about. | ||
| But this victory also serves as a warning. | ||
| What lengths will Mike Johnson and Republicans go to to deny the people their voice and strip Democrats of their power? | ||
| So, while we should celebrate today as a victory for the Congresswoman, her constituents, her family, and the victims, we must not ignore what Republicans are willing to do to cling to power and to hide from inconvenient truths. | ||
| Again, Felicidades y bienvenidos. | ||
| And next, I would like to welcome Congresswoman Emily Randall from the great state of Washington. | ||
| It's about time. | ||
| Congratulations to my colleague, Congresswoman Grijalva. | ||
| I know that you are going to represent Arizona's 7th District and our nation so admirably because you already have. | ||
| For the last 50 days, Congresswoman Grahalva has had to fight harder than any member of Congress before to do her constitutional duty, to be seated after she was duly elected, to represent her constituents even when she isn't able to pay staff, to hire folks, to get set up. | ||
| Her neighbors deserve her to be well supported in this job. | ||
| Her neighbors deserved her to be able to do her constitutional duty sooner. | ||
| But she wasted no time, not only in working hard these last 50 days, but in taking up the pen immediately after she was sworn in to be the 218th signature on the discharge petition to release the Epstein files. | ||
| As a member of the House Oversight Committee, I'm appalled that Speaker Johnson and House Republicans would have prevented the proper representation of Arizona's 7th in order to prevent the release of the Epstein files by shutting down the entire government for 43 days, avoiding transparency, avoiding accountability, and keeping secrets for the president. | ||
| 43 days too long. | ||
| Congresswoman Grajalva finally being sworn in means so much for her constituents. | ||
| The end of her constituents' taxation without representation and her neighbors finally having a voice in government. | ||
| But it also means so much for the voices of the survivors, women and girls who were trafficked and assaulted, who are finally going to have their stories told in the light. | ||
| My colleagues and I on the House Oversight Committee and the larger Democratic caucus will keep fighting to make sure these files are released. | ||
| Thank you to Congresswoman Grajalva for doing your duty. | ||
| I'm so honored to serve with you. | ||
| I would now like to pass the microphone back to our chairman, Congressman Españeta. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| We've heard from the powerful voices of the women of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. | ||
| And it is not by coincidence or by chance that you have heard from them today because Latino women in our community are the center, the spinal cord of our families. | ||
| They are unafraid and they are strong voices that lead our families, our children, and they lead men. | ||
| And so, of course, we're here with them today and we have listened to their points of view on this issue of the Epstein files. | ||
| And I'm sure all of us have had una built o una madre que siempre de sía. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Dime con quiengandas y te dire quieneres. | |
| Tell me who you walk with and I'll tell you who you are. | ||
| And so we here, we heard Adelita today on the floor. | ||
| She was sworn in. | ||
| Speak truth to power, unafraid. | ||
| I don't think anyone here could say that she feared anyone on that floor. | ||
| And she spoke eloquently, decisively. | ||
| She waited for weeks to say that message, that important message, as she was sworn in and just before she signed that petition. | ||
| So we have her with us today. | ||
| Bienvenida adelita lijalva. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Michael. | |
| Thank you so much. | ||
| Thank you all. | ||
| Thank you to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for organizing this. | ||
| Thank you for all of you for standing by me during the last 50 days. | ||
| 50 days is a very long time. | ||
| And, you know, standing through the last few weeks, through this obstruction in my swearing-in, and as Latinas, Arizona's first Latina, Chicana member of Congress, today is a historic day for Southern Arizona, for women, for Chicanos and Chicanas everywhere. | ||
| We shattered the glass ceiling together. | ||
|
Rules Are Different
00:07:07
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| And I'm grateful to my community and to the leaders who paved the way. | ||
| But this historic moment comes with a sober reality. | ||
| My swearing-in was delayed by 50 days, the longest in modern history. | ||
| And let's understand very clearly that if I were a Republican, I would not have waited this long. | ||
| If I were a man, I would not have waited this long. | ||
| We all know that the rules are always different for women of color and people of color. | ||
| And we have to fight against that. | ||
| There is no way that this can ever happen again to anyone at all. | ||
| We're going to push forward bipartisan legislation to ensure it because we cannot allow this to happen to anybody again. | ||
| For one individual to be able to silence 800,000 people, it's unconscionable. | ||
| Es grocero. | ||
| It's just not okay. | ||
| And so, you know, this representation is so important. | ||
| It's important to me as the daughter of Congressman Grijalva, who served our community for 50 years total, 22 years in Congress. | ||
| People in our community know what it's like to depend on a Grijalva. | ||
| And for us to not have that representation was painful. | ||
| But worse and adding insult to injury is when Speaker Johnson would placate and make misogynistic comments about what I should and should not be doing. | ||
| They all know better than I do, if you don't have a budget, you can't do anything. | ||
| And that's the situation that I've been in for the last 50 days. | ||
| And so Speaker Johnson purposefully obstructed my swearing in by canceling vote after vote. | ||
| And the Epstein files discharge petition sat one signature short. | ||
| With my signing, we move one step closer to the truth, the truth that they will try to deny, but that survivors deserve their day of justice, and the American people demand it. | ||
| We also stand on the eve of another vote that shows how little Republicans understand working families. | ||
| They've already passed a bill stripping health insurance for more than 15 million people. | ||
| Now they're pushing one that will send premiums skyrocketing for 22 million more. | ||
| These attacks fall hardest on vulnerable communities, especially Latino children who rely on Medicaid and CHIP because their parents work jobs without employer-provided coverage. | ||
| But the Congressional Hispanic Caucus understands what's at stake, and we will stand together to defend families, protect our democracy, and demand accountability from those who abuse power. | ||
| And finally, my overwhelming election in Arizona sends a clear message. | ||
| This nation, built by immigrants, strengthened by diversity, will choose hope over hate and leadership over chaos every time. | ||
| We are here to build, not tear down our shared future. | ||
| Muchas gracias. | ||
| Thank you so much. | ||
| Preguntas questions. | ||
|
unidentified
|
My question is for Congresswoman Grigalba, but I will do the question in Espan. | |
| What does it mean for you to assume this job in that moment, after you were elected for 50 days? | ||
| It's a very big responsibility. | ||
| Y lo voya ser con todo mi poder, mi corazón, y ganasa acetra vajo muy dien por el sur di arizona. | ||
| No de vía desperar tanto tiempo. | ||
| Nadiende espera tanto tiempo apueder representar y presumir el posición dond estaba eligida por casi estenta porciento del voto. | ||
| So me siento pues tengo muchos emociones orita, más que nada me siento muy emociónada apueder alfin representar sur diarizona. | ||
| Any other questions? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes? | |
| Thank you so much. | ||
| Democrats continue to say that it's Republicans who are keeping the Epstein files hidden. | ||
| But Congressman Tim Burchett is just reporting that he tried to bring a release of the Epstein files to the floor immediately and Democrats blocked it. | ||
| Do you have any insight as to what happened there and why? | ||
|
unidentified
|
When? | |
| You just reported it just about four minutes ago. | ||
| Look, I think it's incredibly clear that Republicans will stop at nothing to avoid the disclosure of this information. | ||
| So what that means is 218 signatures were reached despite White House efforts, even at the 11th hour, to summon people down to the White House to try to get them to remove their signatures. | ||
| Those members said no. | ||
| And so our rules indicate at 218 members get a vote. | ||
| And so that's what we're looking forward to. | ||
| We're not looking for people to avoid taking a vote on this. | ||
| And that's what that effort was. | ||
| That is a weak effort to try to allow Republicans to pass this measure without being accountable and showing whether they support this or not. | ||
| So let's call the vote. | ||
| The discharge process has its rules. | ||
| Let's bring the question up. | ||
| Nothing prevents the speaker from bringing this up tomorrow if he wanted it done. | ||
| But if he drags it out and if the will of those that bipartisan coalition holds, we will have this before us in a couple weeks. | ||
| But we're interested in every member in this chamber putting their vote up, either yes or a no. | ||
| And then we'll see what happens from there. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The back. | |
| Yeah, this question is for Congresswoman Grijalva. | ||
| How does it feel to hear that word, Congresswoman? | ||
| Really? | ||
| It's been a minute. | ||
| We've been waiting for a little while. | ||
| It's a little surreal, I have to say. | ||
| It is. | ||
| I'd like the people keep asking me how I feel, and honestly, maybe I'll have a better answer tomorrow. | ||
| But right now, we've waited so long that I'm looking at my kids and my mom and my husband, and they're both looking at us like, what does that feel like? | ||
| I'm like, I have no idea. | ||
| And if you ask them, they'll probably say the same thing. | ||
| I think that, you know, I've been correcting people for so long. | ||
| Like, they'd say Congresswoman, I'm like, no, it's elect. | ||
| So now when I don't have to say that, I guess I'm very humbled and very honored to represent Southern Arizona. | ||
|
Thursday's Political Debate
00:01:45
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| It's a beautiful community that deserves full representation. | ||
| And what we've been able to provide them is just a little bit of a piecemeal. | ||
| And so truly being able to serve the people of this beautifully diverse community is going to be really incredible. | ||
| I'm very excited about it. | ||
| Thank you so much, everybody. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| I feel like you're out. | ||
| On Thursday, the National Press Club hosts recently fired immigration judges and their union representative to discuss the sudden dismissal of dozens of judges and what it means for due process. | ||
| Watch live at 10 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN. | ||
| C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, and online at c-span.org. | ||
| C-SPAN's Washington Journal, our live forum inviting you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy from Washington and across the country. | ||
| Coming up Thursday morning, the co-founder and president of Real Clear Politics, Tom Bevin, will talk about the political impact of the government shutdown. | ||
| And Maryland Democratic Congressman Johnny Olszewski discusses the House vote to reopen the government. | ||
| Then, Ankush Khandori, senior writer at Politico magazine, talks about President Trump's use of pardons, the House's effort to release the Epstein files, and the president's legal efforts against James Comey, Tish James, and others. | ||
| C-SPAN's Washington Journal. | ||
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