Speaker Johnson moves to stop young parents in Congress from voting remotely

• House Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to squash a resolution that would allow young parents in Congress to vote remotely. There’s a bipartisan effort on Capitol Hill to let young parents vote via proxy so they can be home with their infant, it’s the closest they can get to a Congressional maternity leave.
• Johnson opposes the measure and says proxy voting is unconstitutional.
• Republican leadership is being accused by members of their own party of making threats and playing hardball politics to stop the resolution.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is wielding the power of his gavel to squash a bipartisan resolution that would allow new parents in Congress to vote remotely. Johnson is sending the resolution through the rules committee in an attempt to stop rank-and-file members from bringing it up for a vote despite his objections. 

The resolution was introduced by Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo. Supporters contend there are more young parents than ever in Congress, and if they’re going to grow their families, they have to be able to keep working with an infant.

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Johnson opposes the bill, and he and his leadership team are being accused by fellow Republicans of making threats and playing hardball politics to keep it from being approved.

“They are threatening members right now, and that is unacceptable,” Luna told reporters. “But I understand his concern, and I also understand that there were frontline members that wanted to support this, and they were also threatened. So you are going to threaten the majority because we are trying to advocate for us to have a voice in Washington, I would call the question, what does that say about your leadership?”

Johnson won’t bring the bill up for a vote because he believes it’s unconstitutional. So, members started a discharge petition, which allows the rank-and-file to overrule the speaker and force a vote. They got 218 signatures from every political leaning, which is more than enough.

What does Johnson think of remote voting?

Proxy voting began during COVID-19. Members were allowed to authorize another member to enter their vote on their behalf. House Speaker Mike Johnson says that should not happen again.

“The Republican Party is pro-family. 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,” Johnson stated. “This is a deliberative body. You cannot deliberate with your colleagues if you’re out somewhere else.

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“Here’s the problem: if you create a proxy vote opportunity just for young parents, mothers and the fathers of those situations, then where is the limiting principle?” Johnson continued. 

Luna hinted to reporters that she was prepared to bring her resolution forward as soon as this week. Now the future of the measure could be decided by Johnson’s effort to sink it in committee.