A tentative agreement has been reached with the Florida Republican spearheading a bipartisan effort to permit proxy voting in the U.S. House for new parents, possibly resolving a standoff that suspended legislative activity for days and threatened to postpone a vote this week to further President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Luna stated in a social media post on Sunday that House Speaker Mike Johnson and Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who has been spearheading the bipartisan effort on proxy voting, struck the agreement.
Luna said the deal would codify a “pairing” practice long employed in Congress wherein one member physically present in the House cancels the vote of another absent member instead of allowing proxy voting. Luna stated that all Republicans unable to vote, including new parents, the widowed, and legislators with different medical and familial crises, will have access to the voting choice.
Luna remarked, “These are the modifications required if we really want a pro-family Congress.”
There were no immediately accessible more specifics. It was also unknown if the other legislators who had signed on to the proxy voting idea would agree to the compromise.
The deal with Luna may put a stop to days of back-and-forth about permitting proxy voting for 12 weeks for new parents in Congress while they look after their babies. Johnson has strongly fought the campaign, calling it a violation of the Constitution that would unleash “Pandora’s box.”
But nine of the Republicans defied Johnson in a vote last week and some others declined to support his attempt to reject the measure.
Reaching a compromise would help Republican leaders to probably go forward this week on important legislative priorities—most notably a modified version of the budget blueprint that paves the way for Trump’s drive for billions of dollars in tax cuts. After grinding through a late-night debate, the Senate early Saturday morning adopted that budget outline.
After talking with Luna, Trump claimed he was in support of letting proxy voting for new parents; however, he would defer to Johnson on how the House should run. Trump remarked, “I don’t understand why it’s debatable.”
Giving birth during her first time in Congress, Luna had supported the proxy voting proposal with Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado, who had a 4-month-old boy. With 218 legislators—the majority of the House, many of whom are young parents themselves—signing onto a petition that may start a floor vote, the move garnered notable bipartisan support.
The proposal would permit proxy voting for legislators who have given birth or for pregnant legislators who cannot travel safely or have a major medical issue. It would also pertain to legislators whose spouses are expecting or delivering.
Pettersen, who has brought her kid into the floor for last House votes, stated the institution had to evolve with the times. Over the years, almost a dozen women have given birth while serving in Congress; numerous new dads also exist.
“In 2025, it is incomprehensible that we have not updated Congress,” she stated.
But Johnson, like GOP leaders before him, despises proxy voting, which had been in effect for almost two years during the COVID-19 lockdowns under Democratic control of the House.
It was fast exploited. Johnson stated in a social media post, “Republicans ended it then; we cannot let it again.”