03/27/2025 --dailykos
House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republican leaders are trying to kill a push by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida to give new mothers in Congress the ability to vote by proxy as they recover from childbirth and bond with their newborns.Luna has the votes to pass the bipartisan legislation, which the Republican is co-sponsoring alongside Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) and Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO)—a new mother who has had to travel to Washington, D.C., multiple times with her infant child to avoid missing critical votesBut Politico reported that Johnson and other GOP leaders are trying to find a way to stop it from passing by bullying Republican members and even possibly changing the rules to block Luna's legislation from making it to the floor for a vote.From Politico’s report:Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) has already gathered enough member signatures on a discharge petition to force a vote. But Speaker Mike Johnson, who argues that proxy voting is unconstitutional, is considering several options to prevent it from happening as Luna mulls the way forward.They include trying to kill the discharge petition in the Rules Committee next week, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter who, like others quoted in this story, were granted anonymity to discuss private talks. Some hard-liners are also floating a more drastic option: changing the House rules to effectively block future discharge petitions this Congress by making the process to trigger a fast-track floor vote much more burdensome, the three people said.The discharge petition that could force a vote on the bill has 218 signatures from members of both parties, signaling its wide support. But Johnson claims he doesn't support the legislation because he believes proxy voting is unconstitutional, and allowing new mothers the opportunity to vote by proxy after giving birth is a “slippery slope” to allowing more groups the ability to proxy vote, like members who have to care for sick spouses or children—as if that’s such an awful thing. “Look, I am a father, I’m pro family, the Republican Party is pro family, we want to make it as easy as possible for young parents to be able to participate in the process,” Johnson said at a news conference on Tuesday. “But proxy voting in my view is unconstitutional. In fact I feel so strongly about it that I helped present a brief to the United States Supreme Court just about two years ago... when Nancy Pelosi invented proxy voting using COVID as the excuse for that. It took us down a trail that I thought violated the very document that organized us. I don’t think it’s constitutional. I think the founders intended that you have a presence of the members in person.”xxYouTube VideoBut Luna—who has been fighting to allow new mothers in Congress to vote by proxy since early 2024—doesn’t buy that excuse.“I am not going to destroy democracy by allowing female members to vote when recovering from birth,” Luna told Politico of her efforts, which she says will make Congress more equitable because young women lawmakers will not have to choose between having a baby and representing their constituents.And Luna called Johnson’s bluff, saying that Johnson proxy voted when Democrats instituted the system to allow lawmakers to vote safely during the COVID-19 pandemic—something he wouldn’t have done had he truly believed it was unconstitutional.“.@SpeakerJohnson is a kind man and his heart is in the right spot but he’s wrong on proxy voting for new parents. Here are some documents showing him voting by proxy in the 117th Congress, as late as December 2022! He argues it's ‘unconstitutional’ but has done it several times,” Luna wrote in a post on X. “Since the case is being made to the public via press, I’m going to do the same.”Rep. Brittany Pettersen speaks on the House floor while holding her newborn son.More likely than not, Johnson’s opposition to proxy voting for new mothers is due to his party’s extremely narrow House majority. Absences from Democratic lawmakers like Pettersen could help him pass partisan legislation with more breathing room.But the optics of this are terrible for the GOP—and even Republicans are admitting it.“Voting against pregnant women, are y’all crazy?” uber-conservative Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told Politico of Johnson and company’s attempts to block the bill.Johnson already blocked Luna’s effort to allow new mothers to vote by proxy once before, in November 2024.But this time around, Luna is using a discharge petition—which would let her bill come to the floor for a vote in a way that Johnson could not block.And Luna is threatening to stymie Johnson’s efforts to passing legislation in the House if he pulls any hijinks to thwart her again.“If people want to do that, then, you know, you have a two-seat majority, so good luck passing anything,” Luna told The Hill newspaper, adding, “If they want to play hardball, let’s play f‐‐‐ing hardball.”Johnson’s push to stop Luna’s bill from passing comes as Republican Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida announced on Wednesday that she is pregnant and is due to give birth this summer. She made a macabre joke about how her due date falls during a recess, when Congress is out and not voting, so Johnson doesn't have to worry.“Mr Speaker, don’t worry. Margins are fine. I’m due in August,” Cammack said.Wow. That’s grim. Thank you to the Daily Kos community who continues to fight so hard with Daily Kos. Your reader support means everything. We will continue to have you covered and keep you informed, so please donate just $3 to help support the work we do.
