Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) canceled the week’s remaining votes Tuesday after a rare procedural vote defeat.
A resolution by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) to allow new parents to vote by proxy without traveling to Washington triggered the fight. Luna, who gave birth to a child last year, has crusaded to return Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) pandemic-era practice of proxy voting but limited to parents.
Opponents of Luna’s resolution, including Johnson, argue it is unconstitutional – the Constitution requires that a quorum, defined as a majority of House members, be present on the House floor while transacting business.
Luna, with the assistance of all House Democrats and a handful of Republicans, secured the necessary 218 signatures on a discharge position to force Johnson to bring her resolution to the floor. Under the rules governing discharge petitions, the resolution must receive a vote within two House business days after the petition is filed with the requisite signatures.
Johnson, wanting to avoid a vote on Luna’s resolution, which was certain to pass, included a provision in a rule – a procedural measure to allow other unrelated legislation to advance for a vote on the floor – to effectively sideline the resolution.
Rule votes are historically a mere box check, with the party in power generally voting to a man in favor with the minority party voting nay even on rules to advance underlying legislation they support. But under Johnson, Republicans have routinely bucked leadership to block legislation.
The rule engineered by Johnson to sideline Luna’s resolution was defeated decisively 206 to 222, with eight Republicans – notably, no females – joining Luna. Three Republicans did not vote.
Johnson called the vote a “disappointing result,” adding “ninety-six percent of House Republicans voted against proxy voting because they believe it’s unconstitutional and they agree that it would open a Pandora’s box.”
He announced that the rule being brought down “means that we can’t have any further action on the floor this week,” including planned votes on the SAVE Act, a bill to reign in “rogue judges” hampering Trump’s agenda with nationwide injunctions, and resolutions to reverse a handful of President Joe Biden’s policies.
With the rule with the provision disposing of Luna’s resolution being defeated, the resolution itself must still be addressed after the House returns. Johnson has not tipped his hand on what he will do, although he may face the difficult choice of allowing the House to vote unconstitutionally – leaving any votes decided by proxy subject to being thrown out by the courts, and halting further work on President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
Luna quit the House Freedom Caucus Monday, circulating letters accusing her former caucus colleagues of conspiring with Johnson to defeat her legislation.
In February, the Daily Beast reported Luna’s “congressional office has seen a nearly 100 percent turnover since the start of the year.”
“Since January, all but one senior aide—who moved from the Florida office to Washington—have quit their jobs in Luna’s Capitol Hill office,” the report continued, adding, [t]hey painted a picture of workplace chaos, punctuated by unhinged 3 a.m. phone calls, in which routine congressional office matters devolved into emergency demands for immediate action during non-working hours.”
The House is scheduled to return Monday, April 7. Unless Luna relents, Johnson is likely to face a difficult decision.
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.
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