Trump says he supports proxy vote for new parents at Congress

By Seung Min Kim

Washington (AP) – President Donald Trump approved a proposal on Thursday that would allow new parents to the Congress to vote by proxy rather than person.

Trump’s position, articulated by Air Force journalists Thursday, disagrees him with the president of the room Mike Johnson, who set up an aggressive push to kill this effort this week but was thwarted by nine of his own members, with All Democrats.

Although the president said he would recover from Johnson on the house’s operations, he also said: “I don’t know why it is controversial”. Trump said he spoke to the Florida representative Anna Paulina Luna, the main republican effort of the effort.

“You have a baby, I think you should be able to call and vote,” Trump told journalists on Thursday when he went to Florida. “I am in favor of that.”

Luna and the Democratic representative Brittany Pettersen from Colorado led an effort that would allow new parents to the Congress to vote by proxy for 12 weeks while they take care of their newborns. He has the support of the majority of the chamber, 218 legislators who report to a so-called discharge petition which would oblige the measure on the floor of the chamber for examination.

But Johnson is a categorical opponent to vote by proxy, saying that this is an affront to the Constitution and invoked similar efforts established by the speaker of the time, Nancy Pelosi, at the height of the Pandemic COVID-19 in 2020.

“He was quickly abused. The speaker says that he is working on” all possible accommodation “in addition to being able to vote by proxy to help new mothers in the congress.

Johnson tried to crush the proxy effort during a dramatic vote on the ground earlier this week, but nine of his own Republicans joined all the Democrats to reject his plan, 206-222. The speaker canceled the votes of the room for the rest of the week while supporters of the proxy voting plan were not discouraged and promised to continue to push.

Originally published: April 3, 2025 at 4:11 p.m.