'Opened a Pandora's Box': Mike Johnson Blasts GOPers Who Want Special Voting Privileges for New Parents

Things are getting heated in the U.S. House of Representatives, and it's not your run-of-the-mill Republicans vs. Democrats political sniping. Instead, it's a coalition led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), made up mostly of Democrats and a handful of Republicans, that's causing major headaches for Speaker Mike Johnson this week.

The matter at hand has to do with Luna's efforts to extend proxy voting privileges to House members—including both mothers and fathers—when they welcome new babies into their families. Proxy voting would allow the new parents to stay home with their babies and allow another member to vote in their place for a certain period of time; Luna has suggested 12 weeks.

Speaker Johnson is adamantly opposed to proxy voting of any kind, including in cases where House members are convalescing or otherwise incapacitated. Johnson maintains that members have a constitutional duty to be present on the House floor for votes, while Luna argues that an exception should be made for members who have just welcomed a child.

MORE: Should New Parents Who Serve in Congress Get Special Rights? (VIP)

Things came to a head Tuesday when Luna, a few of her fellow Republicans, and every House Democrat voted 206-222 to quash a procedural vote meant to prevent the proxy voting bill from advancing. Democrats applauded the action. There are, however, some consequences to the Luna coalition's maneuvers, with all other House voting now halted for the week.

Needless to say, Speaker Johnson is not pleased, particularly because votes on election integrity and rogue judges are now delayed.

“Let me just make this clear: That rule being brought down means that we can’t have any further action on the floor this week. That means we will not be voting on the SAVE Act for election integrity. We will not be voting on the rogue judges who are attacking President Trump’s agenda. We will not be taking down these terrible Biden policies with the CRA votes. All that was just wiped off the table. It’s very unfortunate. We’ll regroup and come back and we’ll have to do this again.”

He also warned his GOP defectors that they had "opened a Pandora's box."

.@SpeakerJohnson on failed Rule vote: " Well, it's very disappointing results on the floor there. A handful of Republicans joined with all the Democrats to take down a rule. That's rarely done...we can't have any further action on the floor this week." pic.twitter.com/lz2imuPQRQ
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 1, 2025

It's been the longstanding tradition of the House for its members to be present for floor votes in order to have their vote count. Proxy voting has been allowed during committee votes for a few decades now, but was extended to all House votes back during COVID (the handiwork of Nancy Pelosi). When the GOP took the majority in 2023, they did away with proxy voting, thus requiring members to once more be present for votes.

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Rep. Luna is digging her heels in on this issue, having dramatically resigned from the House Freedom Caucus on Monday, saying the "mutual respect" she shared with her caucus colleagues had been "shattered" over the proxy voting issue. Speaker Johnson is also not likely to back down, saying before the procedural vote:

“We addressed this in conference this morning. A couple of our, a handful of our colleagues, have gotten behind the effort, and, look, I’m a father. I’m pro-family,” the speaker said.
“Here’s the problem. If you create a proxy vote opportunity just for young parents, mothers and, the fathers in those situations, then where is the limiting principle?”

This fight is just another example of how the GOP's razor-thin House majority comes back to bite them repeatedly. Hopefully, Republicans will be victorious in Tuesday's two special elections to fill the vacant seats of Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz, and return two additional votes to their slim advantage.

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