Mike Johnson loses his warfare towards new mothers—and he’s pissed

Home Speaker Mike Johnson suffered an embarrassing blow on Tuesday after 9 of his Republican colleagues defied him, rejecting his push to ban proxy voting for fogeys.

The beautiful GOP riot threw the Home’s legislative agenda for the remainder of the week into chaos, forcing Johnson to abruptly ship lawmakers dwelling in frustration.

The vote in query centered on whether or not new mother and father in Congress ought to be allowed to designate somebody to vote for them for the primary 12 weeks after their little one’s delivery. The bipartisan proposal—led by MAGA Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Democratic Reps. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado and Sarah Jacobs of California—was a uncommon present of unity on a difficulty affecting working mother and father. Each Luna and Pettersen are new moms, and with no formal parental go away coverage for members of Congress, they argued the change was lengthy overdue.

Rep. Anna Luna

“Today is a pretty historical day for the entire conference,” Luna mentioned. “It’s showing that the body has decided that parents deserve a voice in Washington, and also to the importance of female members having a vote in Washington, D.C.”

Holding her nine-week-old son Sam on the Home ground, Pettersen echoed the sentiment. “It is unfathomable that in 2025 we have not modernized Congress to address these very unique challenges that members face—these life events, where our voices should still be heard, our constituents should still be represented,” she mentioned.

You’d suppose so-called “pro-life” Republicans would again the measure. As an alternative, Johnson and Home GOP management fought arduous to kill it, arguing that proxy voting is unconstitutional—regardless of Johnson himself utilizing it, a blatant hypocrisy that Luna known as out.

Democrats wasted no time in slamming Johnson’s stance. “Republicans love to talk about family values, but when given the chance to actually support families, they turn their backs,” mentioned Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern. “If you want to protect your rights as members of Congress, you should vote no here.”

Getting the measure to a vote was a battle in itself. When Johnson had refused to carry it to the ground, Luna and her allies used a uncommon procedural transfer—a discharge petition—to drive a vote with or with out his approval. With 218 signatures, rank-and-file members can bypass Home management, and on this case, they did precisely that.

Rep. Brittany Pettersen speaks on the Home ground holding her new child son.

Johnson, in true petty kind, tried to field his caucus in by tying the rule change to a marquee GOP invoice requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. However his efforts backfired spectacularly. 9 Home Republicans, together with Luna, broke ranks and sided with all Democrats to maintain the proposal alive.

“That rule being brought down means that we can’t have any further action on the floor this week,” Johnson admitted after his defeat. He later mentioned, “A handful of Republicans joined with all the Democrats to take out a rule. That’s rarely done. It’s very unfortunate in this case.”

However Johnson’s hardball ways appear to have backfired, as even his fellow Republicans questioned why he was going to such nice lengths to override the desire of the physique and take such an excessive stance towards working moms.

What occurs subsequent stays unsure. In accordance with The New York Instances, Home guidelines require Republican leaders to carry the proxy vote decision to the ground inside two legislative days. Nonetheless, with members leaving Washington, D.C., it’s unclear when—or even when—Johnson will comply with by way of.

In accordance with NOTUS, Johnson received’t go down with no combat. He appears bizarrely fixated on punishing new mother and father, possible as a result of Republicans have lengthy been anti-remote work and anti-women. He’s reportedly plotting procedural maneuvers to kill the rule change, hoping one will ultimately stick. 

The fallout, nonetheless, is already rattling the Republican caucus. Johnson seems weak, President Donald Trump didn’t rescue him, and the Freedom Caucus is imploding—particularly after Luna give up in protest, livid that its members refused to assist her.

“I cannot remain part of a caucus where a select few operate outside its guidelines, misuse its name, broker backroom deals that undermine its core values and where the lines of compromise and transaction are blurred, disparage me to the press, and encourage misrepresentation of me to the American people,” Luna wrote in a blistering resignation letter.

Johnson’s hasty determination to cancel Home votes for the remainder of the week is undeniably humiliating. And it’s made all of the extra hanging by what’s occurring within the Senate, the place Democratic Sen. Cory Booker made his emotions on the present administration clear by setting a document for the longest ground speech in historical past—25 hours and 5 minutes.

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