The speaker Mike Johnson and the representative of the Republican Party of Florida, Anna Paulina Luna, say that an agreement has arrived to finish the fight for vote for power for the new parents, which will open the floor of the camera again after almost a week of legislative paralysis.
Republican leaders of the House of Representatives will formalize the “vote matching”, a procedure that allows a member who is absent during a vote coordinates with a current member on the other side of the matter to compensate for the absence, they told ABC News to ABC News.
For example, the procedure in this case would allow a new mother, who is absent for a vote of the House of Representatives, joins a current legislator voting opposite to her position to form a “pair.”
Some logistics of this agreement still are clear, including the way this will be applied.
The pairing of votes, which is a rare practice in Congress, is certainly not an equivalent to remote vote, but allows to compensate for an absence. But the absent vote of the member is not recorded in the account of a registered vote.
The voting process was used in 2018 when the Senate voted to confirm the Judge of the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court. At that time, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican from Alaska, who said she would vote against Kavanaugh, matched her vote with Senator Steve Daines de Montana so that her votes are canceled.
The US president of the house, representative Mike Johnson (R-La) (l) participates in a ceremonial swearing with representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) (R), her husband Andrew Gamberzky and her son in the United States Capitol on January 3, 2025 in Washington, DC. The 119th Congress begins his mandate in Capitol Hill today. (Photo of Alex Wong/Getty images)
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Johnson presented the details of the agreement on a Conference of Member Conference of the Republican Party on Sunday afternoon, the sources said.
In the light of the agreement, the sources said that the representative Luna will not activate his high bipartisan request, which has 218 signatures, to allow mothers and fathers to vote remotely up to 12 weeks after delivery.
“The speaker Johnson and I have reached an agreement and we are formalizing a procedure called ‘Live/Dead Location’, which dates back to 1800, throughout the conference to use when it cannot be physically present to vote: new parents, afflicted, emergencies,” the Luna representative published in an X statement.
Luna thanked President Donald Trump for his “support” of new mothers. “If we really want a pro-family congress, these are the changes that should happen,” he added.
It is possible that other members, including any Democrat who signed the petition, calls and forced the action to the extent of the Luna representative. But it would probably fail if the Republicans adhere to the voting agreement.
Johnson is still looking for ways to increase accessibility for new mothers in Congress, such as adding a room on the floor of the house for infant mothers, sources said.
