Adelita Grijalva Won as Expected, Discharge Petition at Issue

By Amy West (Sept. 26, 2025) 

Samuel asked us “1) First, what happens if a majority of a house of Congress wants to pass a bill, but the relevant committee doesn't bring it to a vote? Is there a way to override the committee, and if so, how does this work?”

The answer is that yes, there is at least one way: the “discharge petition.” (There are other ways, and since the House writes its own rules a majority of representatives can do almost anything by changing the rules, and that happens frequently. But for today we’ll stick to the discharge petition procedure.)

First, on Sept. 23, Arizona held its special election for its 7th district to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Raul Grijalva when he died earlier this year. His daughter [pictured above], Adelita Grijalva, won as expected. 

The younger Grijalva is expected to be signature 218 on Rep. Massie’s (R-KY4) discharge petition which would bring to the floor a bill that would require the Trump Administration release files on Jeffrey Epstein. (It will put representatives on the record on Epstein files, but because the bill will likely die in the Senate it may not result in the release of the files.)

So what is a discharge petition?  As the Congressional Research Service says, 

Trump Strikes Skeptical Tone on his own Covid Vaccine Record

Just the News 

By Amanda Head  

President Donald Trump on Monday shot holes in the COVID-19 vaccine accomplishments of his first term, posting on Truth Social that, "They [Pfizer] show me GREAT numbers and results, but they don’t seem to be showing them to many others. I want them to show them NOW, to CDC and the public, and clear up this MESS, one way or the other!!! I hope OPERATION WARP SPEED was as “BRILLIANT” as many say it was. If not, we all want to know about it.  

Trump has been reticent to show any dissatisfaction with Operation Warp Speed, which was announced in 2020 and produced the COVID-19 vaccine in short-order at the onset of the pandemic in 2021, and for the last half-decade, has declined to refer to the public-private partnership as anything other than a success. 

He frequently highlighted the unprecedented speed of development, which produced the vaccine in under nine months as opposed to the typical five to ten years. Trump also repeated claims of the effectiveness of the vaccines and the program’s role in allegedly saving millions of lives. He credited the program’s success to his administration’s funding (over $18 billion, including $10 billion redirected from hospital funds), deregulation, and partnerships with private companies like Pfizer and Moderna. 

As recently as August 28 in his cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump touted the vaccine, citing it as a "medical miracle" that saved millions of lives. "Operation Warp Speed people say is one of the greatest achievements ever in politics or in the military ... Everybody, including Putin, said that 'Operation Warp Speed, what you did with that, nobody could believe it.' We did a great job."

Not very cult-like, Trump's base disagrees

While his detractors criticize his base for being in lock-step with the president on all issues, even going as far as calling them a "MAGA Cult," even his most ardent supporters have abandoned the notion that the vaccines were "safe and effective." 

Trump, Zelensky and More

Zelensky is in Washington and is meeting with Trump in person later today. Following his meeting with the American president, Trump is also expected to host a parade of European leaders including the head of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen as well as French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Prime Ministers Keir Starmer and Giorgia Meloni of Britain and Italy, respectively.

Zelensky’s message appeared to be a rebuttal to Trump claiming on Monday Zelensky has the power to unilaterally end the war.

“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, “or he can continue to fight. Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!”

Trump in turn appeared to be pressuring Zelensky to accept Ukraine losing its claim to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia invaded and colonized in 2014, in response to the Ukrainian president highlighting in remarks on Sunday that the Ukrainian constitution limits his ability to agree to ceding land.

European leaders to join Zelensky at White House as Trump envoy reveals major concession from Putin

https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/live/trump-zelensky-recap-trump-says-hes-trying-to-arrange-meeting-with-putin-and-zelensky-to-discuss-russias-war-in-ukraine-150650809.html

European leaders will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when he meets with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, and Trump's special envoy revealed Sunday a major concession that Vladimir Putin has made in hopes of reaching a peace accord.

The leaders joining Zelensky include French President Emmanuel Macron, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Mark Rutte, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, according to the BBC.

On Friday, Trump met with Putin in Alaska to discuss how the three-year-old war could end.

The U.S. has been engaging in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end the ongoing war that began in 2022.