Rep Anna Paulina Luna and her allies have been calling for proxy voting for new moms *and* dads for 12 weeks around the birth of a child. Seems pretty straightforward, right? And why hasn’t it been there all along? Do they expect new parents to come into Congress for a vote with their newborn? And for heaven’s sake, it’s TWELVE WEEKS.
Well, Speaker Johnson doesn’t agree. He’s arguing it’s unconstitutional (really?) and would lead to an overly loose attitude towards proxy voting. With him snorting and pawing like a bull, he was overrun by something called a discharge petition. It allowed her to bring the legislation directly to the floor without his backing. He tried to pre-empt this with something of his own, using an “unprecedented parliamentary maneuver” to close off the path to the bill.
Now comes the fun part. He lost. Lost, lost, lost. 9 Republicans bucked Johnson, plus all *Democrats* (remember, Rep Luna is a Republican as I’ve written about before with the article where MTG lost her tiny little mind). AND some of the Republicans who voted with her were not the same ones who signed the petition. Ha. Oh, and let me mention Traitor Tot broke with the party and supported *her*. That’s pretty embarrassing.
Speaker Johnson was so put off by this that he sent everyone home for the rest of the week. The strange decision to tell his colleagues to pack it in was a pretty obvious attempt to divert the House from his crystal clear loss. I wonder if the rebellious Republicans who voted to pass this small bill are getting tired of kneeling to the Mango Mandarin Messiah and what he wants. Mikey didn’t quell that mutiny and embarrassed himself instead. Geez, I hope this rebellion grows. This was such a minor thing for the Speaker to push back against. As he left the chamber, he told reporters, “That rule being brought down means that we can’t have any further action on the floor this week.”
From MSNBC: The bill was originally only for women for 6 weeks after the birth. Rep Luna worked with a bipartisan group to change it to 12 weeks for both parents. Johnson’s move appears to have left a bitter taste in the mouths of some of his colleagues. Axios reports that “several GOP lawmakers expressed a feeling that the speaker was being heavy-handed in trying to override the will of a majority of the House.” Meanwhile, Luna felt emboldened, calling it a “historical day.” And Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo, said her message to the speaker was: “Don’t f— with moms.” It also doesn’t speak highly of Johnson’s level of power in his party if he failed the first time he tried to pull off a major legislative move without Trump’s backing. Johnson’s decision to end business in Congress for the week came off as a transparent bid to avoid admitting defeat.
On a policy level, the demands of Luna, Pettersen, and their allies in calling for 12 weeks of proxy voting seem sensible. Why would calling for parental-leave proxy voting lead to a “slippery slope” wherein proxy voting is abused endlessly? The rule change would be time-restricted and based on very specific, rare and important extenuating circumstances. And it would reflect an acknowledgement of the evolving cultural norms surrounding parenthood in the modern workforce.
In the end, it is entirely apropos that Johnson would be unswayed by such arguments. The U.S. is, after all, a global outlier in its refusal to mandate paid parental leave. As the Republican Party puts all its energy into attacking social programs that help vulnerable people, it would look rather odd for Johnson to seem supportive of young parents. But he still lost without Traitor Tot. I think we need an appropriate nickname for him. I hope the press comes up with one.
Zoomers, if you have any spare change, please, we could use it. We are now entering month five of Trump Depression Syndrome, the moniker given to the phenomenon of a lot of Democrats tuning out from politics to save their sanity. I understand and respect that. I also know that somebody has to stay on the front lines, or there won’t be an army left to fight this war. So, that’s us. Please, we could use your help. And thank you for coming here to read about all the events. Ursula
Since he lost, he’s taking his bat and ball and going home. Boo Hoo. They are such adults!
Boo hoo indeed. The loss made me giggle because what he did is, indeed, *so* childish! But at least *some* Republicans seem to be breaking free! (And it’s about time, right? Especially with midterms coming up.)
Seems like Mikey might want to reread his Constitution a bit.
Article 1, Section 5, Clause 2: “Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.”
So, if the House (and/or Senate) chooses to adopt proxy voting, it’s fully Constitutional.
😬 I really hate to tell you this, Susan, because it really is just a betrayal of new parents and it was accomplished by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna making a backroom deal with Speaker Johnson over the weekend and the announcement came after you published your article.
Luna agreed to stop her fight for new parents when she agreed to accept “vote pairing” for all Reps. who need to be away from a vote for any reason, like going to a funeral…one funeral, not 12 weeks of funerals, not 12 weeks of bonding with a child.
I am linking to a CBS News story,* which includes another link to the official Congressional explanation of vote pairing. That explanation is from 2015, but vote pairing is from the 1800s and does not solve the needs of new parents!
It allows a House member who must be away from one vote to negotiate with a member who will be present for that vote, AND is known to be voting the opposite way, to vote their way (gets recorded), then announce they are removing that vote for their pair partner who would have voted the opposite way (depending on which pair scheme is used, the absent member might only have their name appear as a vote in the Congressional Record, not in the floor vote)! Confusing?! You bet!! 🤪
Both people “voted,” but only in order to cancel each other out! So a parent, away from DC and trying to bond with a child, will have to find and negotiate with someone in DC, who disagrees with them on the issue, and get them to be a pair! Find someone for every vote! For 12 weeks!! 🤬 WTAbsoluteF?! 🤬
The votes cancel out!! 🤬 If you don’t find an opposite voter, you and your constituents get no vote!! 🤬
And who decides if you are away from the House for a reason that qualifies for pair voting? Speaker Mike Johnson, of course, who claimed he didn’t want the Proxy Bill passed because it would be a “slippery slope” even though tightly-defined! So he came up with something controlled by himself…what could be slipperier than that?!?! 🤬🤬💩💩
* https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anna-paulina-luna-mike-johnson-proxy-voting-new-parents/