House Republican leaders will take an unprecedented step Tuesday when they are expected to block Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s bipartisan discharge petition to allow proxy voting for new lawmaker parents up to 12 weeks after giving birth — the latest move in a weekslong internal House GOP clash.
Republican leaders inserted specific language into the joint “rule” — a procedural maneuver to advance legislation — which says the discharge petition by Luna, a hard-line Republican, and other similar bills that would address proxy voting are out of order.
Tuesday afternoon’s vote is on the joint rule — which also includes other unrelated legislation. Luna is expected to vote against the rule. If others join her, the House could be paralyzed from moving on legislation.
In this Jan. 3, 2025, file photo, Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson participates in a ceremonial swearing-in with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, her husband Andrew Gamberzky and her son, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Alex Wong/Getty Images, FILE
Luna’s legislation seeks to allow new mothers and fathers in the House to vote on legislation remotely. Luna had a child in 2023 as she was serving in Congress.
Democratic Reps. Brittany Pettersen and Sara Jacobs introduced the effort with Luna and Republican Rep. Michael Lawler in January.
“I am doing this because I believe this governing body needs to change for the better and young American parents need to be heard in the halls of Congress,” Luna said last week.
In this Oct. 17, 2023, file photo, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna holds her son as the House of Representatives meets to elects a new Speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, FILE
This extraordinary move from GOP leaders to block the legislation comes after Luna received 218 signatures on her resolution — enough needed to force the House to vote on the measure. Lawmakers use discharge petitions to circumvent leadership, who determine what legislation comes to the floor.
Speaker Mike Johnson and Luna have been at odds over proxy voting for new parents. The speaker has argued the effort is unconstitutional and made his case during the closed GOP conference meeting Tuesday morning, sources told ABC News.
Johnson has argued that proxy voting is the start of a slippery slope that could lead to more and more members voting remotely. Proxy voting was used during the COVID-19 pandemic, which many Republicans were against.
“I believe it’s unconstitutional. I believe it violates more than two centuries of tradition in the institution, and I think that it opens a Pandora’s box where, ultimately, maybe no one is here, and we’re all voting remotely by AI or something. I don’t know. I don’t think that’s what Congress is supposed to be,” Johnson said at a news conference last week.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks with reporters as he arrives for a closed-door strategy session with fellow Republicans ahead of announcements by President Donald Trump on tariffs, at the Capitol, in Washington, April 1, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Despite some Republican support for the bill, Johnson said “as the leader of this institution and the one who’s supposed to protect it, I don’t feel like I can get on board with that.”
“This is a deliberative body. You cannot deliberate with your colleagues if you’re out somewhere else. Now, there are family circumstances that make it difficult for people to attend votes. I understand that. I’ve had them myself,” he said.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna speaks with attendees ahead of President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress at the U.S. Capitol, on March 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images, FILE
Luna said in a post on X Tuesday that she asked that the legislation just cover new moms to vote by proxy “and they still said no.”
“The argument here is no longer making sense,” Luna wrote. “They say it is unconstitutional yet they voted by proxy.”
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar declared that it’s time for Republicans to stop with the “pro-family” lecturing.
“Republicans should stop lecturing people on being pro-family when they’re opposing this uniformly,” he said at the party’s weekly press conference on Tuesday.
Aguilar praised Rep. Pettersen for working across the aisle with Luna as Republican leadership has fumed about the bipartisan effort.
“It’s shameful and terrible. Our members will oppose these efforts, our hope is reasonable Republicans who have worked with us on these issues will oppose effort too,” Aguilar said about the discharge petition block. “It’s clear that Speaker Johnson is doing everything he can to undermine the will of the House. The majority of the members in the House of Representatives would support this legislation.”
The vote comes a day after Luna resigned from the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus over her legislation, according to a letter obtained by ABC News.
“With a heavy heart, I am resigning from the Freedom Caucus. I cannot remain part of a caucus where a select few operate outside its guidelines, misuse its name, broker backroom deals that undermine its core values and where the lines of compromise and transaction are blurred, disparage me to the press, and encourage misrepresentation of me to the American people,” she wrote in the letter.
ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
