Subject: Re: Epps sworn in today
I believe the House needs to be in session to swear in a new member.

I don't believe so. According to Wikipedia:
On September 23, 2025, Grijalva won the special election by a 2–1 margin, defeating Republican Daniel Butierez (whom her father had defeated the previous November), Green Eduardo Quintana, and No Labels candidate Richard Grayson. She is the first Latina to represent Arizona in Congress.

Grijalva's swearing-in was delayed by 50 days, which set a new record for any member who entered the House after winning a special election. The previous record holder, Representative Jimmy Gomez who won a special election in 2017, requested to delay his swearing in due to family issues he was facing. He was sworn in 35 days after his election victory.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has given various reasons for the delay:

Although the election result was not in dispute, Johnson's initial excuse for the delay was to wait until the election result was certified. Johnson did not use this excuse to delay swearing in James Walkinshaw, Jimmy Patronis, and Randy Fine, who, similarly to Grijalva, were elected in special elections during the 119th Congress, but were sworn in the day after their victories.

Johnson then said she could not be sworn in until the House returned from recess, in spite of a precedent in the 119th Congress in which new members were sworn in the day after their special election, while the House was not in session.

Johnson extended the House recess for another week after the Senate failed to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government and end the federal government shutdown.

Grijalva's swearing-in was scheduled for October 7 but was delayed when Johnson declared a "district work period" from October 7–13. The swearing-in was rescheduled for October 14 which he likewise postponed, even though, on this day, the Arizona Secretary of State certified the election result, satisfying Johnson's original criterion.

On October 16, Johnson said he would not bring the House back into session until the government shutdown was over. On November 12, a few hours ahead of a vote in the Senate bill to end the government shutdown, Johnson finally allowed Grijalva to be sworn in.