Inside the House's growing war over proxy voting
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna leaving the U.S. Capitol on March 11. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The House of Representatives erupted into infighting Tuesday over allowing members who are new parents to vote on bills by proxy for three months.
Why it matters: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and some House conservatives are mounting an 11th-hour push to stop the vote dead in its tracks.
- Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who is spearheading the effort along with Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.), launched what is known as a discharge petition earlier this month to force a vote on the proposed rule change.
- The petition attained the necessary 218 signatures — a dozen of which came from Republicans — to force a vote on the House floor.
What we're hearing: Johnson, who fought to overturn COVID-era proxy voting rules, is urging fellow Republicans to oppose the bill.
- At a closed-door House Republican conference meeting Tuesday, the House speaker cited constitutional arguments Republicans made against proxy voting when Democrats controlled the House, a source familiar with the matter told Axios.
- He also made the case that discharge petitions effectively hand control of the floor to Democrats.
State of play: A group of right-wing House Freedom Caucus members held up an unrelated procedural vote Tuesday to force a conversation with leadership about their concerns regarding the discharge petition.
- Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told reporters of the exchange: "We're having a spirited conversation about how things get to the floor, what gets to the floor and when it gets there."
- "The House is a majoritarian body. That's fine. But we're also a body that has parties and you have to be able to manage and control the floor," he added.
The other side: Luna, who has pushed ahead with the proxy voting effort despite the strong headwinds from her party, signaled she is still not backing down.
- "I look forward to changing the institution, it needs to happen," Luna said. "I'm not just going to simply fall in line because they say it's a tool of the minority, which is stupid."
- Luna predicted that if House Republican leadership attempts to use a procedural motion to stop the vote, "it will fail."
The intrigue: Republicans aren't the only ones who have raised objections to the proxy voting measure, Axios has learned.
- Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) said she raised objections to the language appearing to exclude surrogacy and adoption — commonly used methods for gay couples to have children — telling Axios: "It's not a perfect bill and it does frustrate me."
- Balint said she initially hesitated to sign the discharge petition but ultimately opted to do so "to try to get *something* done on this topic."
What to watch: All Democrats, including Balint, are expected to vote for the bill if it comes to the floor, a House Democratic leadership source told Axios.
- Some of the Republicans who signed the discharge petition, however, appear to be wavering.
- "We're going to see how that goes," said Rep. Michael Rulli (R-Ohio). "Anna's a good friend of mine ... [but] I would like it to be codified into law to be honest. That would probably be a better approach."
