As I reported earlier, there's a fight in Congress over allowing mothers of newborns to vote by proxy. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna quit the Freedom Caucus over the issue, and Rep. Brittany Pettersen brought her baby to the House floor to show Speaker Mike Johnson "why you don't mess with moms."
In fact, Pettersen hasn't been seen not cradling her son on the House floor or on cable news for a couple of weeks now. It doesn't seem like carrying her baby with her like a prop is an issue that would keep her from voting.
CBS News reported on Monday that Speaker Mike Johnson had cut a deal with Luna.
House Speaker Mike Johnson reached a deal with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna amid her push to allow new parents to vote remotely, which paralyzed the House last week and threatened to delay a key vote on President Trump's agenda in the coming days. https://t.co/SasBv63uZG
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 7, 2025
CBS News reports:
Luna, a Florida Republican, announced Sunday she and Johnson had a deal to use vote pairing — an agreement between an absent member and a member who is physically present and plans to vote on the opposite side of the question, effectively canceling out the vote. The present member casts their vote, then withdraws it and announces that they have paired with the absent member. The vote is not included in the vote total, but their positions are published in the Congressional Record.
"It will be open for the entire conference to use when unable to vote (e.g., new parents, bereaved, emergencies, etc.)," Luna wrote Sunday.
Pattersen is still pushing the issue, bringing her baby back to the House floor as a prop.
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I just finished speaking on the House floor about Speaker Johnson's recent move to kill our bipartisan push to allow new parents to vote remotely. This move is anti-women, anti-parent, and anti-family.
— U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen (@RepPettersen) April 8, 2025
Our country has changed. And so have our workplaces. But Congress is stuck… pic.twitter.com/5zBhqs2CaP
Her post continues:
… doing things the way we did them centuries ago.
While Republican Leadership might be out of touch on this issue, I’m deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and young women and moms across the nation.
I want to thank @RepLuna for being a champion as well as @RepSaraJacobs and @RepMikeLawler for all of their work on this.
Our fight is far from over.
Congress is stuck doing things the way they did centuries ago, before they could hop on a plane and get to D.C.
Hey Grok, doesn't Congress have day care on site?
Yes, the United States Congress does provide daycare facilities for its employees, including members and staff. The House of Representatives Child Care Center has been operational since at least 2019 and serves children of House employees, offering programs for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. The Senate also operates its own separate daycare facility for its employees. These centers aim to support working parents within the congressional community, though availability can be limited, and there have historically been waitlists for spots.
I don't think this is the issue we need to focus on right now.
You’re holding your baby as a prop but it also shows you can vote in person.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) April 8, 2025
It is sad to see you use your baby as a prop.
— Carmine Sabia (@CarmineSabia) April 9, 2025
Women in Congress asking for special accommodations sets women back 50 years. Nobody forced you to run for office. If you can’t be both an elected official and a parent, I suggest you quit being an elected official!
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) April 8, 2025
How is it that you can appear everywhere imaginable with your baby to complain about how you can’t go anywhere because of your baby?
— IT Guy (@ITGuy1959) April 8, 2025
She insists she could be home, working in her district, but she'd still have to find a babysitter, wouldn't she?
Proxy voting is a HUGE mistake. https://t.co/UzEdk8TGRt
— @amuse (@amuse) April 8, 2025
You're literally in front of a camera all day with your baby. You get free full-time child care. If you can do this with your baby, you can vote with your baby.
— Law of Self Defense (@LawSelfDefense) April 8, 2025
Voting is literally the least onerous thing you do as a Congresswoman. You don’t meet with constituents? You don’t attend committee meetings? You don’t talk to your colleagues?
— AmishDude (@TheAmishDude) April 8, 2025
Don’t you feel guilty about not serving your constituents? Mothers in your district depend on you.
Or how about you stop using your child as a political prop.
— KᗴᒪᒪᗴY ✰ (@Patriotmom717) April 8, 2025
Do what another woman with a child would do, take them with you. Don’t use them as an excuse not to do your job.
Come to work or find a new job.
— Carson Krow (@carsonkrow) April 8, 2025
I often say that my wife thinks the 19th Amendment was a mistake. Yes, Congress is stuck in the past, when it was all men who left their families behind to grab a horse and carriage to work … just saying.
Here she was last week, cradling her baby while doing a cable news hit.
All Brittany has managed to convince me of by dragging her baby around as a prop everywhere is that she can clearly show up to vote, and her baby isn't a hindrance at all.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) April 7, 2025
So congrats? https://t.co/C821jp4szZ
I love babies, but I have to admit I'm getting sick of seeing little Sam in my timeline. Other women who make a lot less money and don't have free on-site daycare manage to make it work.
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