Johnson stumbles on proxy voting gambit
House GOP fractures over attempt to block a floor vote on letting new parents vote remotely.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sent members home for the week this afternoon after nine House Republicans joined all Democrats to block a procedural motion that would have prevented a vote on allowing expectant and new parents to vote remotely during their child’s first three months of life.
Allow me to explain: Johnson had the House Rules Committee wrap several GOP-backed bills around language to block consideration of the parental leave proxy voting bill. This maneuver came even though its four bipartisan sponsors had already collected more than enough signatures on a discharge petition—a rare procedural tool that forces a floor vote without leadership’s blessing.
The defeat is a public embarrassment for Johnson. It marks the end of a string of wins for the new speaker: winning the gavel on the first ballot, passing a Trump-aligned budget framework, and avoiding a shutdown last month without Democratic help.
But in each of those moments, former President Trump backed him. This time, Johnson was on his own.
“His House is not in order,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) told Once Upon a Hill. “And he knows it.”
The blocked rule included:
The SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.
A bill limiting the power of lower-court judges to issue nationwide rulings.
Resolutions to overturn two Biden-era CFPB rules: one limiting excessive credit card late fees and another formalizing oversight authority over large nonbank payment apps like Venmo, PayPal, and Cash App.
The nine Republicans who tanked the rule: Reps. Tim Burchett(Tenn.), Kevin Kiley (Calif.), Nick LaLota (N.Y.), Mike Lawler (N.Y.), Ryan Mackenzie (Pa.), Max Miller (Ohio), Greg Steube (Fla.), Jeff Van Drew (N.J.), and Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.)—the lead sponsor of the discharge petition.
In the know: The SAVE Act didn’t need to be included in the rule—it was already part of the House rules package adopted on Day One of the new Congress. But Johnson likely assumed that hardliners wouldn’t tank the opportunity to pass their priorities just to protect Luna’s bill. He miscalculated.
“I don’t think they were fooling anyone,” said Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee. “They made it clear to the Republicans who stood up to them that they were trying to get them to buckle under the pressure here. Their efforts notwithstanding, these folks held their ground.”
How we got here: Proxy voting was introduced in May 2020 under then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as a COVID-era measure allowing members to vote remotely while quarantining or recovering.
It remained in place until January 2023, when Republicans—led by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.)—eliminated it as part of a push to restore in-person norms.
But members also used proxy voting for other reasons, like parental leave and caregiving, sparking a broader debate about whether Congress should accommodate members with families.
Currently, the House has no formal parental leave policy. Members who give birth, adopt, or care for a newborn must either return to Washington immediately or miss every vote—a tough choice in a closely divided chamber.
Luna experienced that dilemma firsthand in 2023 when her newborn daughter required hospitalization. She couldn’t vote remotely.
In response, Luna teamed up with Lawler and Reps. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) to introduce a narrow bill restoring proxy voting only for new parents for up to 12 weeks.
Unlike the pandemic-era rule, their bill was carefully designed to apply only to parental leave—a move intended to show that Congress should reflect the realities of modern workplaces.
But critics argue the Constitution implies physical presence and that remote voting undermines deliberative democracy. They also warn it could be abused if expanded beyond its narrow scope.
Last month, the bill’s sponsors secured the 218 signatures to force a floor vote. But today’s failed rule was a last-ditch attempt by Johnson to block it.
A closer look: All House Democratic women voted with Luna to block the rule. No House Republican women joined her. Jacobs told OUAH that the vote exposed a common misconception.
“A lot of the men who voted with us did so because they have young children, and they weren’t able to be home with their children in those really important early weeks,” she said. “This isn’t just a women’s issue—it’s about families.”
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.) said the pattern felt familiar.
“We are hopeful that over time, we will get more women from both sides of the aisle supporting these policies,” she said, noting that Republican women also declined to back equal pay legislation in 2021.
Looking ahead: House leaders are expected to try again next week—reintroducing the same rule and daring the nine GOP rebels to oppose Trump’s agenda a second time.