GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna says Speaker Johnson ‘held hostage’ by far-right members over remote voting fight

(CNN) — GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who left the House Freedom Caucus over its opposition to her push for remote voting for new parents, accused some members of the conservative group of holding Speaker Mike Johnson “hostage” over the matter and acting “disingenuous.”

“The speaker is being held hostage,” Luna told CNN’s Manu Raju Monday evening. “You had members — a small group of the Freedom Caucus, not all of them but a small group — that threatened to shut down the House floor regardless of what agenda was being placed, whether it was the president’s or not and that’s not right.”

“There are some great people that are still members of the Freedom Caucus, but there’s a small faction that’s disingenuous and I’m not going to play that game,” she said.

Luna, along with Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen, are trying to force a change to House rules to allow new parents – mothers as well as fathers – to vote by proxy for up to 12 weeks around the birth of a baby.

The issue has opened up a rift within among House Republicans with Republican leaders arguing it’s unconstitutional and a slippery slope.

Luna has been pushing for a vote using a relatively uncommon procedural method known as a discharge petition, which allows rank-and-file lawmakers to force measures to the floor if they can get 217 other members to support it.

The House could vote as soon as Tuesday on language that would effectively block the discharge petition from Luna.

Some GOP lawmakers are privately opposed to the idea of voting against new parents in Congress, and it’s unclear if party leaders will have the votes to kill it. If GOP leaders do nothing, Luna’s bill would come to floor in the coming days, thanks to the special powers of the discharge petition, and likely pass.

Luna seemed confident that she would prevail, but said she may “expand” her efforts when pressed on how she would respond if Johnson succeeds.

“Well, if he does, I’m not going to hold him hostage, but it doesn’t mean I’m not going to try for something more. I might expand it,” she said.

Pettersen, who is partnering with Luna on the proxy voting effort, was unsure Monday evening if they would have the votes to prevail Tuesday.

“It’s going to be tough, but I think that we’ll have the votes. They’re trying to pull out all the stops to kill this and it doesn’t make any sense,” the congresswoman said.

“I can’t believe that we’re, you know, these headlines aren’t going to stop. The need doesn’t stop. They had one of their colleagues announce just last week that she’s pregnant. They should care about making sure that she can vote as well. It’s frustrating, it’s disappointing, and I think ultimately, we’re going to win.”

The issue of proxy voting — while a procedural one — is highly contentious among many institutionalists in the House, including in the Freedom Caucus.

While many Republicans, including Johnson, repeatedly voted by proxy during the pandemic, many have argued in floor speeches and in court proceedings that it is an unconstitutional practice.

“Look, I’m a father. I’m pro-family,” Johnson told reporters recently. “The proxy voting, in my view, is unconstitutional,” he said, arguing that it could lead to a slippery slope in which members are “all voting remotely, by AI or something.”

CNN’s Jenna Monnin contributed to this report.

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