House conservative defies Johnson over remote voting for new moms in Congress

US Rep. Anna Paulina Luna frequently tried to persuade House Speaker Mike Johnson that, as a champion for families, he should support her effort to let new mothers vote remotely for about six weeks while they recover from giving birth.

He said no, and then she turned to the Democrats.

The House Freedom Caucus member is now working with a group of House Democrats, supported by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, on a bill that would provide an additional 12 weeks of remote voting flexibility for both mothers and fathers with new children.

She and her Democratic leader, a very pregnant Rep. Brittany Pettersen, plan to soon force the measure to the floor with a discharge petition, an uncommon move for a member to make against their own leadership. They think it will pass, since only a few Republicans would need to join Democrats in favor of it.

I don’t think it’s fitting for Republican leaders, who claim to support families, to be so opposed to family values,” Luna said in an interview with . “It’s a slap in the face to every voter who sent us to Washington D.C.

A new push for remote voting, led by a conservative Republican, shows a younger generation of lawmakers in Congress want to bring the institution into the modern era – and the pressure on each congressman to be in attendance is huge, especially when every vote counts. In a House with a slim majority, lawmakers who miss a vote for unavoidable reasons — such as the birth of a child, a chemotherapy treatment, or the death of a spouse — can swing the outcome of a bill.

It’s this same slim margin in the House that allows individual members like Luna to defy her own party leadership and work with Democrats.

Johnson stated to a brief interview that the practice of proxy voting, even for new mothers who are unable to travel, is “unconstitutional.” The speaker, who spent decades studying constitutional law before entering Congress, has personally made that argument in a court document filed with the Supreme Court.

It’s unfortunate. I have a lot of sympathy and understanding for all of our young female representatives who are of childbearing age. It’s quite a difficult situation,” Johnson said to . “However, I’m afraid it doesn’t align with the language of the Constitution, and that’s a point that can’t be avoided.

Luna terms that a “cop-out response.”

A pandemic-era fight

Proxy voting in Congress has been the target of strong political and legal conflict since it was implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic. House Republicans have long been against the practice and ended it once they secured the majority in the 2022 elections.

A lawsuit challenging proxy voting, initiated by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is currently under review by a federal appeals court.

Behind the scenes, lawmakers like Luna and others, including New York’s GOP Representative Mike Lawler, who has a two-month-old at home, and Democrats like Pettersen and California’s Representative Sara Jacobs, attempted to collaborate with Johnson and his team to develop language that could gain support in Congress and pass legal tests. They modified the initial language that Johnson stated violated the Constitution, relating to requiring a “quorum” in the House.

When her appeal to the Republican leadership failed, Luna decided to negotiate a compromise with Democrats, specifically Pettersen, who is expected to give birth to her second child in February. The revised measure would allow both new mothers and fathers to vote remotely for 12 weeks, unlike Luna’s original proposal, which would have allowed only six weeks of proxy voting for birthing mothers. (Those changes lost support from some Republicans: Multiple Republicans privately said they would no longer back the measure if it included fathers, according to an individual familiar with the discussions.)

Republican Party insiders admit it would be desirable to permit members some leeway, considering the House majority dynamics.

But many are hesitant to sign a discharge petition that goes against their leadership stance. Representative Blake Moore, who holds a leadership position at the House and missed the birth of one of his children due to House duties, has stated he does not intend to support the discharge petition.

“I’ve spoken with both of those women, and they genuinely care about this issue,” Moore said to , referring to Luna and Pettersen.

The push for proxy voting marks a significant shift in Luna’s position, as she is a member of the Freedom Caucus who initially opposed proxy voting. However, after experiencing difficulty traveling to Washington due to her own difficult birth, she changed her stance.

Luna doesn’t plan on stopping with just voting remotely for new parents. The Florida Republican stated she will work with another member, GOP Rep. Jeff Van Drew from New Jersey, who is leading an effort to allow lawmakers some limited remote voting during real emergencies, as long as GOP leaders approve their absence.

Van Drew stated that this is a critical step Congress needs to take, as he’s seen some of his fellow colleagues having to choose between attending a funeral, being present for a sick family member, or missing an important vote.

We have a record-breaking small majority,” Van Drew said to . He emphasized that it’s “completely our responsibility and our obligation” to cast our vote in person, but he also admitted that lawmakers sometimes face “extreme situations.

But Van Drew is aware that there is strong opposition to his proposal within his party, recalling a conversation with a fellow Republican who declined to support it.

I asked, ‘What would you do if your dad was in a hospital bed, likely to pass away, and you had a pivotal vote for the country coming up?’” Van Drew recalled the conversation. “He looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘My dad would understand I had to cast my vote.’

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas is one of the leading Republicans opposed to proxy voting – whether a member is recovering from illness or having a birth. He stated it’s not just unlawful, it’s also “not right.”

I have to consider the fact that I’m an absent father to my 13-year-old and 15-year-old kids,” Roy said. “It’s a deliberate decision. And I need to decide if it’s worth it. Honestly, most days I’m not sure it’s definitely worth it.

The time has come for Congress to “evolve”.

Pettersen is confronted with her own difficult decisions.

Working from her office in Lakewood, Colorado, for the next few weeks, Pettersen wants new parents to be able to vote remotely, just like her, if they are unable to travel to the Capitol. With her baby due soon, Pettersen can no longer travel by plane. It’s uncertain when she’ll be able to return to the Capitol, given that there are upcoming votes on the Trump agenda, including increasing the national debt limit and government spending.

“I think it’s extremely unfair that I’m unable to fly to D.C. to see my vote counted in person. It doesn’t feel safe for me to go or for my baby,” Pettersen said to . She also stated that she had a hard time deciding to stay in Colorado – she even considered temporarily moving her family to D.C. around the time of my baby’s birth, but ultimately decided to stay at home near my current doctor and the rest of my family.

She pointed out that it’s also crucial for Congress to “keep up with the times” as women currently make up roughly 28% of the House.

In this institution, women haven’t been traditionally represented in leadership positions,

Supporters are trying to get approximately 10 Republicans to sign the discharge petition as a safety net to guarantee its passage.

They will be able to officially file a discharge petition by mid-March, which is 30 legislative days from when they introduced their initial measure. Luna is full of confidence.

“I love it when people tell me I shouldn’t be able to do something because it gives me the motivation to pull it off,” she said.