House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) is demanding to know why Representative-elect Jimmy Gomez (D., Calif.) has not been sworn into a seat he was elected to almost a month ago.
Gomez, a current state assemblyman, won an all-Democrat special election in California's 34th district three weeks ago to take the place of new California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. However, he told the Los Angeles Times that he would try to delay resigning his Assembly seat in order to be a critical vote on extending the state's cap-and-trade program that requires companies to buy permits to release greenhouse gas:
Negotiations on cap and trade are escalating in Sacramento, and there are rumblings that Brown would like to be able to count on Gomez' vote to pass the bill with a two-thirds majority before the Legislature leaves on July 21, something McCarthy took issue with in a letter to Gomez, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla.
"If this delay persists due to his prioritization of state legislative matters, Congressman-elect Gomez should be honest with the constituents of California’s 34th congressional district who he was elected to serve and resign from his newly-elected seat so they can elect someone ready to serve on Day One," McCarthy wrote.
Brown wants the deal to pass with a two-thirds majority to help insulate it from legal challenges, and Gomez could be an important vote if legislative leaders can’t get some moderate Democrats on board.
Gomez is likely to be sworn in as late as July 10, more than a month after his election, due to the upcoming July 4 recess. He said he had offered to be available for the cap-and-trade vote until June 15.