POLITICO: GOP leaders scramble to squelch vote on parental proxy voting

Last week, I told you about Speaker Johnson’s 11th-hour procedural push to prevent a vote on my resolution to allow new parents in Congress to vote remotely — so that our constituents’ voices can still be heard, even if we are unable to be there in person.

Now, his plan is coming into focus, and it’s a complete and total affront to our democracy. Here’s the situation:

We have a clear majority in Congress who have signed our petition in favor of allowing new parents to have a voice in Congress. Under the rules, that should automatically trigger a vote on the House floor. But news just broke that Speaker Johnson is pushing a shady procedural maneuver to kill our discharge petition at the last second and prevent the House from voting on our resolution.

House GOP leadership believes that we can’t make Congress more welcoming to young mothers because of “tradition.” But at the same time, they’re willing to circumvent the rules of Congress for themselves to overrule the will of the majority of the House!

Let’s be clear: Respecting tradition in Congress means respecting democracy — not changing the rules in the middle of the game when you’re losing. My resolution will ensure that parents, and especially women, are able to continue to do their jobs when they’re welcoming a new child, and will be a step towards making Congress more accessible to all Americans, not just wealthy older men.

But by using every tool at his disposal to kill it, Speaker Johnson is showing us who he’s fighting for and which Americans he believes deserve a voice — and it’s certainly not regular families like yours and mine.

I want to be clear: If we fight back and exert maximum public pressure, we still have a shot at getting this resolution across the finish line. So please, will you help me mount one last push to get this resolution passed by signing my new petition? With your help, we can show Mike Johnson that the overwhelming majority of voters are on our side — and on the side of working moms.

SIGN YOUR NAME → [[link removed]]

Thank you,

Brittany Pettersen

Brittany Pettersen for Colorado
P.O. Box 150887
Lakewood, CO 80215
United States

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