House GOP leaders make move to quash proxy voting for new parents

House GOP leaders are using a procedural tactic to try to quash an effort from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna to force a House rule change to allow new parents to vote by proxy while taking time away from Washington to care for infants in their first 12 weeks of life.

Ms. Luna, Florida Republican, successfully obtained the required 218 signatures on a discharge petition to force action on the issue.

But Republican leaders late Monday tucked a provision into a rule for unrelated legislation that would nullify the discharge petition, potentially denying Ms. Luna a vote on her proxy voting measure that House Speaker Mike Johnson has decried as unconstitutional.

The House Rules Committee approved the rule early Tuesday on a 9-4, party-line vote. A full House vote is scheduled for early Tuesday afternoon.

Rep Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee, said this is the first time the chamber will be trying to kill a discharge petition when the underlying measure is not advanced through other means.

Even worse, he said, is that the rule prevents similar measures from being considered through the remainder of the Congress.

Republicans argued that members sign up for the job with the expectation that they show up in person to vote and pointed to past abuse of proxy voting when it was authorized during the pandemic.

In addition to nullifying Ms. Luna’s discharge petition and preventing similar measures, the rule sets up debate on unrelated legislation to require proof of citizenship to register to vote and limit nationwide injunctions, among others the chamber is scheduled to vote on this week.

Ms. Luna can save her discharge petition if she finds at least two other Republicans to vote with her against the rule, assuming all Democrats are opposed, as is customary for the minority party.

Eleven Republicans signed Ms. Luna’s discharge petition: Michael A. Rulli of Ohio, Tim Burchett and Andrew Ogle of Tennessee, Dan Crenshaw and Wesley Hunt of Texas, Byron Donalds of Florida, Jefferson Van Drew of New Jersey, Daniel Mueser of Pennsylvania, Richard McCormick of Georgia, David P. Joyce of Ohio and Michael Lawler of New York.

GOP leaders have been trying to sway enough of those members to support their effort to prevent a vote on Ms. Luna’s proxy voting measure. By tucking the provision that turns off the discharge petition into the rule for other legislation, they are effectively daring Republicans to choose between proxy voting for new parents or other top party priorities like preventing noncitizens from voting.

Ms. Luna’s rule change would set up a much more limited form of proxy voting that House lawmakers used during the COVID-19 pandemic, approved at the time by the Democratic majority and removed from House rules when Republicans took control of the chamber.

Her resolution would allow a new mother or father who plans to take time away from their House duties in Washington while caring for their newborn to designate a fellow member to vote on their behalf.

But the proxy voting authority would expire 12 weeks after it is triggered, either from the newborn’s birth date or when a pregnant lawmaker’s health care provider advises she can no longer travel safely.

Ms. Luna reportedly resigned from the conservative House Freedom Caucus on Monday, accusing some of her colleagues in the group of leading the charge against her proxy voting measure.

The Washington Times has reached out to Ms. Luna’s office for comment.