Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) called Speaker Johnson (R-La.) “anti-family” over her efforts to allow congresswomen to vote by proxy after giving birth.
In a thread on the social platform X, Luna explained Wednesday where her proposal stands. She said she has spoken with Johnson for months about the bipartisan effort to allow mothers to vote while spending time at home with their newborns. On Wednesday, she said she was informed he would not support it.
“Among other things, this is something that I fundamentally disagree with him on,” Luna wrote, later adding that it is “not only anti-family, but is also a slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of voters who send members to represent them in DC.”
Luna clarified to The Hill that the Speaker is not allowing a vote on the matter.
“He will not let me bring it to the floor,” Luna said.
She filed a discharge petition on the matter, which would trigger a vote if 218 House members signed on. But Luna said she does not expect to earn enough support from Democrats to trigger a vote.
Republicans are concerned about the slippery slope that allowing proxy voting for some situations could create. They’ve previously argued in court that it’s unconstitutional.
Last year, Luna grew frustrated by the lack of any mechanism to vote on behalf of her constituents after she suffered significant complications when giving birth to her son last August.
She joined with Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) to introduce a resolution that would amend House rules to allow members to vote by proxy up to six weeks after giving birth.
The proposal isn’t exactly what Democrats would have liked since it excludes fathers and parents who adopt, but Luna wanted to make it difficult for either party to oppose, so she kept it narrow.
In her post Wednesday, Luna said she has heard from women in Congress and younger male members on both sides of the aisle that this is discouraging, and they feel pressured into not having children since they cannot vote.
“Female members should not be forced to choose between representing their constituents and having children. [Unless] Congress embraces changes to reflect American’s family values, we will not have true representation in Washington DC,” Luna wrote.
Proxy voting never existed on the House floor before the COVID-19 pandemic, but with the virus surging through the country, it proved to be a useful tool.
It was a hotly debated issue because some members used it to have their votes recorded for attending political events. It ended when Republicans retook the majority in the House.
In February, a federal judge in Texas ruled that proxy votes cast during the pandemic should not have counted toward the body’s quorum, calling into question the validity of those votes.
Emily Brooks contributed.
