President Donald Trump on Thursday endorsed a proposal that would allow new parents in Congress to vote by proxy, rather than in person.
Trump’s position, articulated to reporters on Air Force One on Thursday, put him at odds with House Speaker Mike Johnson, who mounted an aggressive push to kill that effort this week but was foiled by nine of his own members, along with all Democrats.
Though the president said he would defer to Johnson on the operations of the House, he also said, “I don’t know why it’s controversial.” Trump said he had spoken to Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, the leading Republican proponent of the effort.
“If you’re having a baby, I think you should be able to call in and vote,” Trump told reporters Thursday as he traveled to Florida. “I’m in favor of that.”
In a post late Thursday on X, Luna said Johnson called her after Trump’s remarks “and we discussed limiting the vote to just new moms who cannot physically travel in event of emergency etc. This is smart.”
Luna and Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado have led an effort that would allow new parents in Congress to vote by proxy for 12 weeks as they care for their newborns. It has the support of the majority of the House, with 218 lawmakers signing on to a so-called discharge petition that would force the measure on the House floor for consideration.
But Johnson is an adamant opponent of casting votes by proxy, saying that doing so is an affront to the Constitution and invoked similar efforts instituted by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“It was quickly abused. Republicans put an end to it then, and we cannot allow it again,” Johnson said in a lengthy social media post this week. The speaker says he is working on “every possible accommodation” aside from being able to vote by proxy to aid new mothers in Congress.
Johnson attempted to squash the proxy effort in a dramatic floor vote earlier this week, but nine of his own Republicans joined all Democrats in rejecting his plan, 206-222. The speaker canceled House votes for the rest of the week while supporters of the proxy voting plan were undeterred and vowed to continue to push for it.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.