Speaker Johnson scrambles for solutions to parental proxy voting impasse

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is scrambling to break the impasse over the push to allow proxy voting for new parents, as the standoff between GOP leadership and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) hardens.

A band of nine Republicans, led by Luna, joined with Democrats Tuesday to torpedo a vote on a procedural rule that included language to thwart the proxy voting effort, halting unrelated key legislative business on the House floor and prompting leadership to send lawmakers home for the week.

To re-open the floor, Johnson has to advance a procedural rule, which governs debate for legislation. First, however, he must solve the proxy voting dilemma.

Johnson said Wednesday that some Republicans are refusing to vote for rules going forward “until we stop the proxy initiative.” Traditionally, only the majority party votes in favor of rules, meaning just a few Republicans can continue to grind work to a halt.

Raising the stakes, the House is eyeing a vote next week on adopting a compromise budget resolution to advance parts of President Trump's legislative agenda if the Senate moves ahead this week — which the lower chamber will be unable to do without action on the parental proxy voting front.

The path forward is shaping up to be an uphill battle as Luna digs in on her parental proxy voting push, top lawmakers remain categorically opposed to the effort, and the clock ticks on the deadline for leadership to move on the resolution.

As of Wednesday evening, Johnson did not have a solution to the stalemate.

“We’re gonna find a path through this, we’re working on that,” he told reporters. “I’ve talked to everybody who voted against the rule and we’ll work it out. So we got time to do it and those conversations continue.”

The Speaker did, however, show some of his cards on Wednesday, revealing in a statement on X that he is “actively working on every possible accommodation to make Congressional service simpler for young mothers,” a potential attempt at compromise with Luna.

Asked by The Hill later what changes he is eyeing, he floated a room for nursing mothers right off the House floor and potentially allowing new mothers to use official funds to travel back-and-forth from their districts to Washington.

“We want to accommodate mothers who want to serve in Congress, and we’re the pro-family party so we’ll do that,” Johnson said. “But we can’t do something that violates the Constitution or destroys the institution we serve in, and that’s what I’m afraid of. The proxy-vote gambit opens us a Pandora’s box and it’s one that I’m not gonna be involved in opening.”

It is unclear, however, if those offerings would be enough to get Luna to relent on her push for a vote on parental proxy voting. She continued pushing for the practice Wednesday night.

“A lot of vocal members have voted by proxy, I haven’t. I’m just trying to ensure that the president’s agenda is delivered on, and that also female representatives truly have the ability to represent their constituents in Washington if there’s an issue during childhood,” Luna said on NewsNation Wednesday night.

If Luna does not let go of her push in light of Johnson’s new accommodations, which is expected, the Speaker will have to go back to the drawing board as he looks for ways to bury her effort.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told The Hill on Wednesday that leadership is looking at bringing up another rule next week that would again include language to “turn off” the privilege for the parental proxy voting push — “something similar” to the strategy that failed on Tuesday, but with some “differences.” He would not elaborate on those changes.

“There are a lot of things being discussed,” he said.

Johnson huddled with Republicans on the House Rules Committee Wednesday morning as he searched for a path forward on the issue. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a hardline conservative who sits on the panel, described the huddle as “very good” and said the ordeal would be figured out “hopefully before next week,” but was not sure of what strategy would achieve that goal.

“I don’t know,” he said when asked how the chamber would move ahead. “We like Anna, we don’t like proxy voting.”

A source said Johnson was meeting with GOP lawmakers on the Rules Committee “to figure out how to square” the two contrasting sides of the debate.

“The Speaker was meeting with members to figure out a path forward that, I think he earnestly is trying to figure out how to protect the institution from what is very clearly something that will damage the institution, by the vast majority view of the Republicans, and that are trying to deal with the fact that a discharge was done, which is problematic for the vast majority of Republicans,” the source said. “And he’s trying to figure out how to square that circle by next week.”

One wildcard in the proxy voting predicament is whether Trump will weigh in on the debate, considering his successful track record of getting House Republicans on the same page. Luna told NewsNation on Wednesday that she spoke to the president about the matter, and he “assured that this would get resolved.”

The standoff comes after Luna successfully executed a discharge petition to force a vote on Rep. Brittany Pettersen’s (D-Colo.) resolution that would allow members who give birth or lawmakers whose spouses give birth to have another member vote for them for 12 weeks. Luna secured the 218 signatures needed to prompt action — including from 11 other Republicans — but leadership has been trying to thwart the effort ever since.

The leadership-oriented House Rules Committee on Tuesday advanced a rule that included language that would essentially “turn off” privilege, blocking Luna and her allies from forcing action on the proxy voting legislation, or any similar legislation in the future. Also included in the rule were two key GOP-led bills — requiring proof of citizenship to vote and prohibiting nationwide injunctions — in an attempt to dare Luna and her allies to down the rule.

In the end, however, nine Republicans joined Democrats voting “no.”

As the stalemate drags on, tensions are rising between the two sides. Luna on Wednesday accused the Speaker of being disingenuous when he said the GOP lawmakers who helped tank the rule were holding up Trump’s agenda. While the failed procedural vote prevented the House from debating and voting on the two GOP-led bills under that rule, lawmakers could have brought up a different rule to move ahead with the bill that would require proof of citizenship to vote.

“This is just a political game here that they’re playing,” Luna said on NewsNation. “And if you want to look at who’s playing games, I mean, you could see it. They did not have to send us home. They tried to do that to get people upset. It's just disingenuine, we could've voted on the SAVE Act.”

“I also want to ensure that everyone knows that we're not blocking the agenda,” she added. “They're not being straight up and that's exactly why they got community noted.”

Johnson, meanwhile, is showing no signs of softening his anti-proxy-voting posture.

“I don’t concede on something that I believe to be unconstitutional, I can’t,” Johnson told reporters when asked why he will not let up in his fight. “I took an oath to uphold the Constitution.”