A fiery fight between Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) over remote voting for new parents fizzled out over the weekend with a compromise to bring back vote pairing, a system dating back to the 1800s that would essentially require a Democrat to cast off their vote willingly to offset a GOP absence.
After nine Republicans voted against a procedural rule vote last week, the House was brought to a standstill. Leadership canceled the rest of the week’s votes and tried to create a new path forward once it was clear Johnson’s hands were tied. At the center of the argument was Luna’s proxy voting bill for new parents, which allowed a member to vote by proxy for 12 weeks. Johnson and much of the GOP conference are staunchly opposed to this measure, calling it “unconstitutional.”
