Mike Johnson fails to contain a GOP procedural revolt
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House Speaker Mike Johnson at the U.S. Capitol on March 11. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A dozen House Republicans on Tuesday helped their Democratic colleagues bypass House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and force a vote to allow House members to vote by proxy for up to three months after having children.
Why it matters: The Republican defections came despite Johnson, who helped lead a GOP lawsuit aimed at eliminating COVID-era proxy voting, calling the proposed rules change "unconstitutional."
- House Republican leadership has generally discouraged its members from signing onto discharge petitions, but this is the third time in a year members have ignored him.
- "We won fair and square," declared Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), the Republican leader of the proxy voting revolt.
State of play: On Monday Luna filed what is known as a discharge petition, which forces a vote on legislation if it receives 218 signatures.
- Her bill with Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) — who gave birth in late January and has had to miss most votes since — would allow up to 12 weeks of proxy voting for new parents of either gender.
- By Tuesday evening, the discharge petition hit 218 signatures— 206 Democrats and 12 Republicans.
- The petition was signed both by moderate Republicans and right-wing hardliners like Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.).
What they're saying: Luna told reporters that the measure makes it so that members who vote by proxy don't count towards a quorum — which she said addresses Johnson's concerns about constitutionality.
- "I think he supports families, but ... it's in line with the constitution. He knows that, I know that, I'm right, he's not right," she said.
- Pettersen said of Johnson: "I understand his position, but discharge petitions exist so that if you have overwhelming support, you can force a vote and go around leadership. So we're using it for exactly what it's meant to do."
- A Johnson spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Between the lines: The tool is often used by rank-and-file members to force votes on bills that leadership has overlooked — or by the minority party to force votes on measures that majority leadership opposes.
- In the other two cases this year, lawmakers succeeded in forcing votes on bills to provide tax relief to natural disaster victims and expand Social Security benefits — both of which had fallen through the legislative cracks.
- In this case, it was a rare example of a bipartisan effort to ram through a measure that was explicitly opposed by GOP leadership.
