March 12, 2025 10:36 AM UTC

Pettersen's Proxy Voting for New Parents Moves Closer to Vote as Support Grows

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• by: Colorado Pols

Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen (D-Lakewood) is demonstrating that Democrats are the true party of “family values.”

Pettersen is close to being able to force a House floor vote on her proposal to allow proxy voting for new mothers despite the resistance of House Speaker Mike Johnson to the idea of modernizing the old white man institution that is Congress.

Via press release from Pettersen’s office:

the bipartisan Proxy Voting for New Parents Resolution – introduced by Representatives Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), and Mike Lawler (R-NY) – cleared a significant hurdle, bringing it one step closer to a vote on the House floor.

After Speaker Johnson blocked efforts to allow new parents in Congress to vote remotely, this bipartisan group of lawmakers filed a discharge petition. This procedure allows members to bypass House Republican leadership and force a vote on the legislation. The petition successfully garnered the required 218 signatures, bringing the resolution a step closer to a vote, despite opposition from House leadership. [Pols emphasis]

“No Member of Congress should have to choose between caring for their newborn and representing their constituents,” said Pettersen. “While Speaker Johnson decided to not move forward with our resolution – despite bipartisan support – we refused to back down. I’m so grateful for all the people who stepped up and helped us get one step closer to modernizing Congress. Sam is only 6 weeks old, but he got to be a part of changing hearts and minds and addressing a barrier that prevents regular people from serving in Congress.”

In late January, Pettersen became just the 14th active Member of Congress to give birth. Prior to giving birth to her second child, Pettersen formed a bipartisan coalition pushing to allow new parents serving in Congress to vote by proxy for up to 12 weeks so that they could continue to serve their constituents while also staying at home to care for a new baby in the critical first few months of life.

Republican Congressional leaders, including Speaker Johnson and loudmouth Texan Chip Roy, have opposed the idea of making it easier for new parents by bellyaching vagaries about “tradition” and “protecting the institution of Congress.”

As Axios reports, “Discharge Positions” have become more common in recent years as Republican leadership ignores common sense proposals in favor of dumb arguments about “tradition”:

Discharge petitions — once rare procedural devices — are becoming increasingly common. Two have succeeded in forcing votes in the last year.

• Last May, 189 Democrats and 29 Republicans signed onto a discharge petition to force a vote on Rep. Greg Steube’s (R-Fla.) bill to provide tax relief to victims of natural disasters.
• Then in September, 171 Democrats and 47 Republicans bypassed Johnson on a bill to expand Social Security benefits to retirees who receive certain government pensions.
• Before 2024, the last time a discharge petition succeeded in actually forcing a vote was in 2015.

Pettersen made international headlines last month by showing up on the House Floor with baby Sam in tow in order to cast a vote against a House Republican budget that would decimate Medicaid.