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

Washington (CNN) — GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna repeatedly tried to convince Speaker Mike Johnson that he — as a pro-family champion — should back her push to allow new mothers to vote remotely for six weeks while they are recovering from birth.

He refused. Then, she turned to Democrats.

The House Freedom Caucus member is now teaming up with a group of House Democrats, backed by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, on a measure that would give even more flexibility to new parents — a full 12 weeks for remote voting for mothers as well as fathers.

She and her lead partner on the Democratic side, a very pregnant Rep. Brittany Pettersen, plan to soon force the measure to the floor using a discharge petition, which is a highly unusual step for a member to take against their own leadership. And they believe it will pass, since only a handful of Republicans would need to join Democrats in support.

“I don’t think that it’s right for the leadership, especially Republican leadership, that prides itself on being pro-family, to be so anti-family,” a defiant Luna told CNN. “And really, it’s a slap in the face to every single constituent that we’ve had that sent us to Washington DC.”

This new push for remote voting, led by a conservative Republican, reflects a younger generation of members of Congress eager to modernize the institution — as well as the intense pressure on every House member to be physically present at a time when every vote matters. In a historically thin House majority, lawmakers who are unable to vote for an array of unavoidable reasons — including birth of a child, a chemotherapy treatment or the death of a spouse — can be the deciding factors in a bill’s success.

And it’s that same tight House math that empowers individual members like Luna to buck her own party leadership and work with Democrats.

Johnson told CNN in a brief interview that the practice of proxy voting, even for new moms unable to travel, is “unconstitutional.” And the speaker, who spent decades in constitutional law before coming to Congress, has made that argument personally in a brief filed to the Supreme Court.

“It’s unfortunate. I have great sympathy, empathy, for all of our young women legislators who are of birthing age. It’s a real quandary,” Johnson told CNN. “But I’m afraid it doesn’t fit with the language of the Constitution and that’s the inescapable truth that we have.”

Luna, for her part, calls that a “cop-out response.”

A pandemic-era fight

Proxy voting in Congress has been the subject of fierce political and legal debate since it was put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. House Republicans have long opposed the practice and ended it after they won the majority in the 2022 elections.

A federal trial and appeals courts in Washington, DC, previously rejected a GOP-backed lawsuit challenging the practice in the House. The US Supreme Court declined to take up McCarthy’s case. Another lawsuit opposing proxy voting, brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is now before a federal appeals court.

Behind the scenes, Luna and other lawmakers — including GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, who has a two-month-old at home, and Democrats like Pettersen and fellow millennial Rep. Sara Jacobs of California — tried to work with Johnson and his team to craft language that can win support in the Capitol and withstand legal scrutiny. They changed the initial language that Johnson said violated the Constitution, relating to establishing a “quorum” in the House.

When her appeal to GOP leadership failed, Luna decided to broker a compromise with Democrats, specifically Pettersen, who is due in February with her second child. The latest measure would allow both new mothers and fathers to vote remotely for 12 weeks, unlike Luna’s initial bill, which would have only offered six weeks of proxy voting and only to birthing mothers. (Those changes cost some GOP votes: Multiple Republicans privately said they’d no longer back the measure if it included fathers, as well, according to a person familiar with the discussions.)

Republicans privately acknowledge it’s in their interest to allow members some flexibility given the House math. Two other House Republican men are expected to become new fathers later this year.

But many are unwilling to back a discharge petition that goes against their own leadership. Rep. Blake Moore, who sits at Johnson’s leadership table, missed the birth of one of his children because of his job in the House but said he doesn’t plan to back the discharge petition.

“I have talked to both of those ladies, and their hearts are in the right place,” Moore told CNN, referring to Luna and Pettersen.

The push for proxy voting is a notable shift for Luna, a Freedom Caucus member who initially opposed the idea. But she changed her mind after her own difficult birth, which made traveling to Washington challenging.

Luna doesn’t plan to stop with just proxy voting for new parents. The Florida Republican said she will work with another member, GOP Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, who is leading a push to give lawmakers some limited access to remote voting during true emergencies, if GOP leaders approve their leave.

Van Drew said it’s a necessary step for Congress after watching some of his colleagues be forced to decide between attending a funeral or being with a sick family member or missing a big vote.

“We have an unprecedented tiny majority,” Van Drew told CNN. While he stressed it is “absolutely our duty and our job” to vote in person, he acknowledged lawmakers do occasionally face “extreme circumstances.”

But Van Drew knows there is stiff resistance from some in his caucus, recalling a conversation with one fellow Republican who refused to back the proposal.

“I asked, ‘What would you do if your dad was in a hospital bed and he was going to pass away and you had a critical vote for the country?’” Van Drew said, recalling his conversation with the member. “He looked at me straight in the face and said, ‘My dad would understand I had to vote.”

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas is one of those Republicans adamantly opposed to proxy voting — whether a member is recovering from birth or a sickness. He said it’s not just unconstitutional, it’s also “not right.”

“I have to factor in the fact that I’m an absent father from my 13-year-old and my 15-year-old children,” Roy said. “It’s a choice. And I have to decide if it’s worth the choice. I’ve got to tell you, most days, I’m not sure it really is.”

Time for Congress to ‘evolve’

Pettersen is now facing her own tough choices.

Stuck working from her district office in Lakewood, Colorado for the next few weeks, Pettersen wants new parents to be able to vote remotely when they, like her, can’t travel to the Capitol. With her due date just weeks away, the Democrat can no longer travel by plane. And with upcoming votes expected on the Trump agenda, raising the US debt limit and government spending, it’s not clear when she’ll be able to return.

“It feels incredibly unfair that I can’t physically fly to D.C. to have my vote counted. It is not safe for me or my baby,” Pettersen told CNN. She added that her own decision to remain in Colorado was a difficult one — she even considered moving her family to Washington in the short-term for the birth of her baby but ultimately decided to remain at home near her current doctor and the rest of her family.

She said it’s also important for Congress to “evolve” with the times, when women make up about 28% of the House. (Luna was just the 12th woman to give birth in Congress, and Pettersen will be the 13th.)

Jacobs, who decided to freeze her eggs because of her job in the House, put it this way: “This is an institution designed for and by old white men.”

Supporters are aiming to get about 10 Republicans on the discharge petition to ensure it has a buffer for passage.

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

“I love when people tell me I can’t do something because I turn around and get it done,” she said.

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