House Speaker Mike Johnson called the outcome “disappointing,” adding that a “handful of Republicans joined with all the Democrats to take down a rule — that’s rarely done.”
The House on Tuesday defeated an effort that would have effectively killed a push to allow new parents to vote remotely around the birth of their child, an embarrassing loss for House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Nine Republicans joined all Democrats during a procedural vote to help sink it. Johnson called the outcome “disappointing”, adding that a “handful of Republicans joined with all the Democrats to take down a rule — that’s rarely done.”
Johnson said it halted further legislative action this week.
“Let me just make this clear, that rule being brought down means that we can’t have any further action on the floor this week”, Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters after the vote. “It’s very unfortunate. We’ll regroup and come back.”
The fight over whether to allow remote voting for new moms and dads who serve in Congress came to a head this week with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, leaving the conservative House Freedom Caucus as her colleagues plotted against the bipartisan measure.
