WASHINGTON — Some House Republicans are preparing to rebel against party leadership over a proposal to allow new parents in Congress to vote remotely while they are on maternal or paternal leave.
Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo., filed a discharge petition earlier this month to force a vote on a bill that would allow new parents to vote by proxy. The resolution garnered the 218 signatures required to bypass leadership, setting the stage for an intraparty fight over changing a core institutional rule.
Under current House procedure, lawmakers must be physically present to cast their votes on legislation. As a result, lawmakers such as Luna and Pettersen who have recently given birth have missed key votes due to travel restrictions in the final weeks of their pregnancy and maternal leaves.
“I look forward to changing the institution. It needs to happen,” Luna told reporters on Tuesday, arguing the current proposal has been negotiated between Democrats and Republicans to include necessary limits.
“I’m not going to just simply fall in line because (leadership) say this is a tool of the minority,” Luna added. “Which is stupid, because if it’s a tool of the minority, why is it in our handbook that most Congress members don’t actually read — so they don’t actually know that it’s a tool that you can use.”
After a discharge petition reaches the 218-signature threshold, lawmakers must wait seven legislative days before they can force it to the floor. That so-called “ripening period” is almost up, according to Luna, who said she is working on a date to call for a vote.
However, the Florida Republican declined to share her timing plans, noting she didn’t want to give leadership an opportunity to “try to kick the vote to the very last fly-out day and last vote to try to get members to leave so that they don’t vote for it.”
The discharge petition comes as those in House Republican leadership push back against the proposal, warning such a change would violate the Constitution.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for young parents to be able to participate in the process. But proxy voting, in my view, is unconstitutional,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Tuesday. “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 this. I don’t think it’s constitutional.”
Utah Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, who serves as the House GOP Conference vice chairman, has not weighed in publicly on the bill but his office told the Deseret News he would back leadership’s position.
Luna pushed back on Johnson’s argument, even going so far as to post a photo on X documenting three instances in which he voted by proxy in late 2022.
It’s not clear if Johnson will try other methods to squash the legislation, although it is possible GOP leadership will propose a motion to table, to effectively kill the proposal. However, Luna said such an effort would fail as at least 11 Republicans crossed party lines to sign the discharge petition — and far more expressed an interest, she said.
It’s possible a handful of other Republican members could stage some sort of revolt to kill the proxy voting bill.
About half a dozen Republicans engaged in a tense discussion on the House floor on Tuesday, with some of those GOP lawmakers confirming it was related to the proxy voting debate.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, described it as a “spirited conversation about what legislation gets to the floor and how,” although he declined to get into specifics.
The Texas Republican said he opposes any legislation approving proxy voting, arguing the Constitution “does not even remotely contemplate remote voting.”
“You’re supposed to be present in the chamber. I think that’s important,” Roy told reporters. “I think everyday Americans are supposed to show up to work.”
Under the bipartisan proposal, the bill would allow for up to 12 weeks of proxy voting on the House floor and in committees for both new mothers and fathers. Luna said the proposal is just a starting point and could later be expanded to include parents who adopt or have a child through surrogacy.
Luna last spoke with Johnson about the proposal on Monday, characterizing it as a “cordial” conversation that ultimately left the two agreeing to disagree.
“I think he’s wrong. He thinks I’m wrong,” she said. “(But) I’m right. He’s wrong.”