WASHINGTON — Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., is clashing with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., over her push to pass legislation that would allow lawmakers who are new parents to vote remotely.
In a closed-door meeting Tuesday, Johnson discouraged rank-and-file Republicans from supporting Luna’s proxy voting bill, warning that it was unconstitutional, a source in the meeting said.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for young parents to be able to participate in the process,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting. “But proxy voting, in my view, is unconstitutional.”
Luna then took to X and posted a photo of three documents showing when Johnson had himself voted by proxy in 2022.
“He argues it’s ‘unconstitutional’ but has done it several times,” she wrote.
Hours later, Luna warned that if Johnson and House GOP leadership derail her effort, she and her allies could block the party's entire legislative agenda given their razor-thin margin in the chamber.
“If people want to do that, then, you know, you have a two-seat majority, so good luck passing anything,” Luna told reporters on Tuesday. “If they want to play hardball, let’s play f------ hardball.”
A conservative hard-liner and fierce ally of President Donald Trump, Luna gave birth to her first child in August 2023. She’s now secured the 218 signatures — from 207 Democrats and 11 Republicans — needed to advance her discharge petition. Such discharge petitions can be used to circumvent leadership of the majority party — in this case, Republicans — and bring legislation directly to the floor for a vote.
The proxy vote bill is authored by Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo., who gave birth to a son in January and has brought him to the floor during votes in recent weeks to highlight the need for remote voting, especially for female lawmakers who have recently given birth. The bill, co-sponsored by Luna, and Reps. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., would allow proxy voting for new parents up to 12 weeks, as well as before birth if medical issues arise.
For now, Luna is keeping her cards close to the vest and on Tuesday she would not say when she plans to file a motion that would begin the process to hold a vote on the bill. She also said she has no other meetings planned with Johnson on the matter.
A source familiar with the deliberations said members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus had pressed GOP leaders to raise the threshold needed for a discharge petition, but Johnson threw cold water on that proposal Tuesday afternoon.
“I heard that they were trying to get Dems not to support it, that they were then trying to also reach out and have external forces contact me to try to pressure me to not do it, and I’m not going to not do it,” Luna said.
“So I don’t know if they don’t know me by now, but I’m not backing off from this,” she added.
Asked about those external forces, Luna replied. “I’m not going to elaborate, but you guys can assume.”
Pressed if she was referring to Trump or the White House, Luna said, “I’m not going to elaborate.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, House Republicans were critical of the move by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to allow lawmakers to vote by proxy.
In a joint statement, Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain, R-Mich., expressed concern that allowing new mothers and fathers to vote remotely would encourage others to request an opportunity to do the same.
“We sympathize with our colleagues who face circumstances that prevent them from being present, but proxy voting raises serious constitutional questions,” the statement read. “It also changes more than two and a half centuries of tradition, abuses the system, and creates the risk of a slippery slope toward more and more members casting votes remotely.”
Scalise, who nearly lost his life in a 2017 mass shooting and was hospitalized for more than three months, said he never thought he should be able to cast votes from his hospital bed.
“I missed a lot of votes during that period, but there’s never a time where I thought that I should be able to vote remotely. I mean, there is something very unique about being in the House chamber, voting on the floor with your colleagues,” Scalise said.
“And you know, you lose that once you say people can vote remotely for any reason, because once you start, it’s going to just keep expanding,” he added.
