Speaker Johnson Says He Has Trump’s Backing on Proxy Voting for Members Who Are New Parents

Trump had told reporters on Air Force One that House members should be able to vote remotely, though he deferred to Johnson.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Feb. 5, 2025. Win McNamee/Getty Images

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on April 4 that President Donald Trump supports him when it comes to voting by proxy in the House.

“Thank you, [Donald Trump] for your leadership: ‘Mike, you have my proxy on proxy voting.’ America is grateful to have a President who appreciates and understands the complexity of legislative branch issues and governing with a razor-thin House majority. Democrats tried proxy voting before and it was terribly abused. We cannot open that Pandora’s box again,” Johnson wrote in a post on social media platform X.

Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) have led the charge to allow proxy voting for members of the House who are soon having or have just had a baby.

Johnson’s post comes a day after Trump told reporters on Air Force One that House members should be able to vote remotely, though he deferred to Johnson.

“I don’t know why it’s controversial,” he said.

“I’m gonna let the Speaker make the decision, but I like the idea of being able to—if you’re having a baby, I think you should be able to call in and vote. I’m in favor of that,”

Trump said he spoke to Luna on April 2 about the issue. Luna confirmed this to NewsNation.

“She and some people feel strongly about it, and I would agree with them,” he said.

“The president assured that this would get resolved,” said Luna, who gave birth in 2023, when she was a freshman member of Congress.

This week, the House rejected an attempt by Johnson to kill a discharge petition, put forth by Luna, that would force a vote on a resolution, introduced by Pettersen, that would allow proxy voting for House members that are soon giving birth or the spouses of those who are on the verge of doing so. It would also allow for new parents to vote remotely.

Pettersen gave birth to a child in January.

The defeated vote led to House GOP leadership canceling votes for the remainder of the week.

Members would be allowed to vote by proxy for 12 weeks once the designation takes effect. Voting remotely requires members to send a letter to the House clerk with their vote on a measure and why they are not present.

Luna criticized Johnson’s attempt to thwart her discharge petition.

“Republicans have had the majority as well as the ability to bring legislation to the floor on election integrity and rogue judges for months,” Luna wrote on X. “Yet, at the last minute, leadership chose to tie my discharge petition to a rules package that would permanently paint me and the members supporting it as being anti-election integrity.”