House Republicans settle fight over remote votes for new parents after Johnson-Luna standoff
Washington — The fight in the House over whether to allow new parents in Congress to vote remotely around the birth of their child appears to be settled for now.
The House voted Tuesday to effectively kill a discharge petition championed by Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida that forced a vote on a measure that would have permitted remote voting for new parents. Instead, a separate resolution from Luna to allow "vote pairing" was adopted. Both actions were included in a rule governing debate for four unrelated bills. The House approved the rule mostly along party lines, with Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona being the sole Republican to vote with Democrats.
The move comes a week after nine Republicans joined all Democrats to sink a similar rule that would have defeated Luna's discharge petition. It was an embarrassing loss for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who sent lawmakers home for the remainder of the week. The Louisiana Republican has adamantly opposed proxy voting, believing it to be unconstitutional.
Rubbing salt in Johnson's wounds, President Trump endorsed the push to allow new parents to vote remotely. But Johnson later said that after speaking with Mr. Trump, the president understood his position.
Luna announced Sunday that she and Johnson had reached a deal to use vote pairing — an agreement between an absent member and a member who is physically present and plans to vote on the opposite side of the question, effectively canceling out the vote, according to the Congressional Research Service. The present member casts their vote, then withdraws it and announces that they have paired with the absent member. The votes are not included in the vote total, but their positions are published in the Congressional Record.
The practice will also be available for members who are absent for reasons other than having a child, Luna said.
Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado, who introduced the measure that would have allowed new parents to designate a colleague to vote for them for up to 12 weeks after they or their spouse gives birth, said Johnson "pulled out all the stops to prevent us from moving forward."
"The changes agreed upon by the speaker are not a win for us," Pettersen said on the House floor on Tuesday while holding her young son.
Pettersen introduced the measure before giving birth in January. After Johnson declined to bring it up for a vote, Luna launched a discharge petition, which allows members to circumvent leadership and force a vote on a bill if it secures at least a simple majority. Luna's discharge petition quickly reached the threshold and had bipartisan support.
Pettersen announced Tuesday she would seek to force a vote on the discharge petition after Luna agreed to kill it. But the House's adoption of the rule ended the effort.
"I understand that my colleague Rep. Luna has done everything she can to try to find a path forward, and this is ultimately the only option that existed at the end," Pettersen said. "Do you think that there would be one Republican here today that would stand and vote present on the bills this week, coming forward on my behalf? I don't think so. This is why this is not a workable solution."
