House Republicans torpedo Johnson effort to block proxy voting for new parents

The House GOP battle over proxy voting for new parents escalated to a full-blown procedural war Tuesday that will have ramifications for Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) ability to control his razor-thin majority.

Nine Republicans joined Democrats in torpedoing a procedural rule that would have blocked Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) from forcing action on the proxy voting measure.

It was a hardball play by Johnson and GOP leaders that ended up backfiring.

Leadership coupled language blocking Luna’s proxy voting matter with provisions teeing up consideration to put limitations on federal judges and require proof of citizenship to vote.

Those are both popular measures for the GOP and President Trump, and the Republican leaders were effectively daring their members to move against the president’s priorities in order to support Luna’s push.

Nine Republicans, including Luna, were happy to take them up on the dare, cratering the rule and bringing legislative activity to a halt as GOP leaders canceled votes for the rest of the week.

What happens next is not entirely clear, but the failed vote is a victory for Luna, who for weeks has been battling with Johnson over her push to allow proxy voting for new parents.

She celebrated on the House steps, saying: “Never bet against the Luna.”

The fight also showcased a major divide in the House GOP, pitting conservatives concerned about the constitutionality of proxy voting against a “pro-life” desire by other conservatives to show support for new moms and families.

And it all threatened to erode GOP leaders’ power over the House floor, given their already historically slim majority.

Luna already successfully garnered the 218 signatures needed to force a vote through the rarely-successful discharge petition process. She won the support of 11 Republicans in that effort.

That success forces floor consideration of Rep. Brittany Pettersen’s (D-Colo.) resolution to allow lawmakers who give birth or lawmakers whose spouses give birth to have another member vote for them for 12 weeks.

Luna earlier Tuesday made a privileged motion — enabled by her discharge petition — to bring a vote on the resolution. If leaders do nothing, they will have to take action on the matter on the House floor within two legislative days — which, with the canceled votes, would stretch to next week at the earliest.

There is the possibility that GOP leaders try again to kill the effort before that clock is up. Luna said that she did not think there was anything else leadership could to do kill the measure, but Johnson appeared to hint at the prospect: “We’ll regroup and come back and we’ll have to do this again.”

The Speaker framed the vote as Republicans defying the Trump agenda.

“It’s a very disappointing result on the floor there — a handful of Republicans joined with all Democrats to take down a rule. That’s rarely done,” Johnson said.

“Let me just make this clear: That rule being brought down means that we can’t have any further action on the floor this week. That means we will not be voting on the SAVE Act for election integrity. We will not be voting on the rogue judges who are attacking President Trump’s agenda. We will not be taking down these terrible Biden policies with the CRA [Congressional Review Act] votes. All that was just wiped off the table. It’s very unfortunate. We’ll regroup and come back, and we’ll have to do this again.”

Discharge petitions rarely succeed because to do so, members of the majority must defy their own leaders.

In this case, Johnson is seeking to pit Luna and the Republicans who joined her against Trump, though Luna is a big public supporter of the president.

But the president has not taken a public position on the issue of parental proxy voting, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday she had not had a conversation with Trump on the issue.

Johnson and other leaders argue that proxy voting is unconstitutional and warn that the effort could be a “slippery slope” toward expanding the practice for other groups.

Pettersen, holding her infant in her arms next to Luna after the vote, said their message to the Speaker was: “Don’t f‑‑‑ with moms.”

“We’re changing the way that Congress works, making sure that moms and parents have a voice,” Pettersen said.

But despite Luna stressing that the proxy voting resolution is limited in nature and brushing off slippery slope arguments, Pettersen opened the door to proxy voting in more situations.

“I think that when there’s life events and medical conditions or people can’t be here physically, that we should have limited circumstances and parameters — when you look at paid family medical leave, that that we passed in Congress, actually, under Republican leadership, we should have those same parameters for people here in Congress,” Pettersen said. “I support that.”

Pettersen brought her infant son to the chamber to argue for proxy voting Tuesday, speaking on the floor with her son in her arms. She had previously flown to D.C. with him when he was just weeks old to cast votes on key bills.

Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) also had his toddler with him at the vote. Hunt, in January 2023, flew from Texas to Washington to cast his vote for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) shortly after his wife gave birth, while his newborn was hospitalized. Hunt ultimately voted for the rule.

Proxy voting was widely used by both parties when it was implemented under Democratic leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it drew widespread Republican criticism and unsuccessful legal challenges.

GOP leaders at first tried to get the Republicans who signed the discharge petition to change their minds — and succeeded in convincing Reps. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) and Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) to back off their support, with Meuser saying he did not support proxy voting for new dads.

But hard-line members of the House Freedom Caucus — Luna’s onetime allies — pushed for Johnson to take a more aggressive stance in trying to stop a vote on the push.

Johnson took that step Tuesday, when the leadership-controlled House Rules Committee advanced a rule that included language that would essentially “turn off” privilege, blocking Luna or her allies from forcing action on the proxy voting legislation, or any similar legislation in the future. By including that language and other GOP priorities in a single rule, Johnson dared Republicans to vote against Republican — and Trump — priorities.

Republican “no” votes included Reps. Nick LaLota (N.Y.), Kevin Kiley (Calif.), Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Jeff Van Drew (N.J.), Max Miller (Ohio), Greg Steube (Fla.), Mike Lawler (N.Y.) and Ryan Mackenzie (Pa.).

For some of those members, the rebellion against leadership was as much — or more — about outrage at thwarting one of the few ways rank-and-file members have to circumvent leadership as it was about wanting to support new parents.

“Rep. Luna followed the rules and deserves a vote on the merits of her proposal,” LaLota, who did not sign the discharge petition, said in a statement. “Members who oppose her proposal should negotiate with her to amend it or persuade 218 members to vote no, rather than deny her a vote on the merits.  Accordingly, I’ll vote no on the rule that quashes her petition.”

Tuesday’s failed vote marks the latest twist in the parental proxy voting saga, which has been a topic of debate on Capitol Hill for weeks. The battle escalated Monday, when Luna announced she was leaving the House Freedom Caucus after some of its members worked with leadership to try to thwart her effort.

“I cannot remain in a group that would smear me as being against election integrity and extort the Speaker to derail a just cause,” Luna wrote in a letter to House Republicans. “This undermines our integrity and the future of this body. Supporting female representation and new families is not a fringe issue—it is a cornerstone of a vibrant, representative Congress.”

Updated at 3:03 p.m. EDT