Speaker Johnson suffers defeat as GOP rebels tank effort to block remote voting for new parents

By Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday abruptly halted all work in the House after suffering a major defeat over his push to block remote voting in Congress for new parents.

Nine of his own GOP members — led by new mom, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna — rebelled against his leadership team, tanking a procedural vote on a measure that many considered anti-family, despite a fierce pressure campaign from Johnson and his allies to support it.

The drama has effectively paralyzed the House as Johnson’s leadership team scrambles for another way to prevent Luna and other Republicans from working with Democrats to change the chamber’s rules to allow parents of newborns to vote remotely.

One idea under consideration is linking Trump’s agenda to the measure that would block remote voting – aiming to pressure those nine Republicans to choose between the president’s priorities and the proxy effort, according to a person familiar with the thinking.

But no plans have yet been decided. For now, Johnson is stuck and casting blame squarely on Luna and the group of rebels who opposed their party’s measure on the floor.

“Let me just make this clear. That rule being brought down means we cannot have any further action on the floor this week. That means we will not be voting on the SAVE Act for election integrity. We will not be voting on the rogue judges that are attacking President Trump’s agenda. … All that was just wiped off the table. It is very unfortunate,” Johnson told reporters.

Luna’s bill would allow proxy voting — as lawmakers did in the pandemic — for new parents who are unable to travel to Washington. Johnson failed to win enough support from within his House GOP conference to block that measure.

And because Luna’s bill carries special powers under a procedural tool known as a discharge petition, it will receive a vote on the floor automatically unless GOP leaders can find another way to block it.

Johnson ultimately lost nine Republicans on the measure to block Luna’s push, and even more could vote against party leaders on the up-or-down vote next week, according to multiple people involved in the whip operation.

North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson, who runs the House GOP campaign arm, told CNN that nine GOP lawmakers bucking leadership to tank the effort was “frustrating.”

“It’s frustrating,” Hudson told CNN. “When you got a tight margin, these things happen. We’ll work through it.”

Hudson tried to downplay the defeat, adding, “We’ve had these hiccups for two years.”

A long-simmering feud

Johnson and Luna have battled for months over the Florida congresswoman’s push to allow proxy voting in Congress for parents of newborns – an effort that began after she gave birth last year and was unable to vote for weeks. But the institutionalist Republican speaker has fiercely rejected that push, forcing Luna to choose the more contentious approach of working with Democrats.

Johnson and his leadership team have faced a rebellion within their own party as they scramble to kill Luna’s measure before it can come to the floor, where it is almost certain to succeed.

The Louisiana Republican has spoken repeatedly with Luna about the matter — including a meeting in his office earlier Tuesday morning — but they have been unable to find a path forward.

Johnson’s stance is drawing complaints from across his GOP conference, many of whom see his position as anti-family in a Congress that includes more and more young parents. The GOP speaker has argued that proxy voting is unconstitutional, though he personally took part in the practice while it was allowed under then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the Covid pandemic.

The subject of proxy voting dominated a contentious GOP conference meeting Tuesday morning, according to multiple Republican sources familiar with the discussions. In one tense moment, GOP Rep. Nick LaLota – a father of three – spoke up to note that Republicans were using the rules to change the rules, according to two attendees.

Luna had told colleagues that she had at least four Republicans who would vote against the rule, according to a person familiar with her whip operation. And the final number — nine — surprised even some Republicans.

Luna has recently faced her own political drama over the matter. She left the Freedom Caucus this week after the ultraconservative group mostly refused to support her discharge petition.

There’s another reason that some Republicans privately want Johnson to allow proxy voting: The House math.

Johnson’s margins are so tight that President Donald Trump abruptly decided to keep Rep. Elise Stefanik in the House instead of adding her to his Cabinet. And yet Johnson is rejecting a measure that would give him some flexibility for when lawmakers are unable to attend votes because they have newborns at home.

One GOP lawmaker, Rep. Kat Cammack, is pregnant and at least one other, Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas, is expecting a child soon with his spouse. Cammack and Gill voted with Johnson on the issue in Tuesday’s vote.

For many Republicans, it’s personal

The issue of proxy voting is personal for some Republicans.

In a private conversation discussing the matter on Monday, GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt told Johnson that it was his “biggest regret in life” that he trekked to Washington 16 times while his son was gravely ill in the neonatal intensive care unit and his wife was in the ICU, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

Hunt plans to bring his son, now a toddler, to the floor later Tuesday to protest Johnson’s decision on the proxy voting issue. Hunt is one of a dozen House Republicans who signed onto Luna’s discharge petition. Ultimately, he voted with Johnson on Tuesday but could support the final measure on the floor.

While GOP leaders do not typically whip on procedural measures known as rule votes, Johnson and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas have been personally phoning Republican members to whip them against Luna’s proposal, according to a person familiar with the outreach.

Freshman Rep. Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania said he had no issue challenging his own party leadership on the issue.

“I think we need to make more accommodations in society for pregnant women and expecting mothers,” Mackenzie told CNN after he voted against Johnson’s wishes on the issue.

Rep. Max Miller, who has a one-year-old at home, also defended his vote, saying he couldn’t “in good conscience” stand in the way of Luna’s bill.

“As a new dad, I just couldn’t support it,” Miller said of Johnson’s measure in a statement about his vote.

This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Manu Raju and Haley Talbot contrubuted to this report.

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