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Johnson digs in against proxy voting, citing House’s ‘integrity’

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Speaker Mike Johnson is digging in against allowing proxy voting for the House’s new parents, heightening a standoff with members of his own party that has frozen legislative action in the chamber.

“While I understand the pure motivations of the few Republican proxy vote advocates, I simply cannot support the change they seek,” Johnson said in a Wednesday post on X.

The speaker is in a serious bind after suffering a stunning defeat over a procedural vote Tuesday, prompting him to send the House home until next Monday. Johnson’s initial effort to block a vote on a proxy-voting measure from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) failed after eight fellow Republicans joined her and every Democrat.

Luna was on the cusp of forcing a vote on her bill under a discharge petition, which can circumvent leadership’s control of the floor.

If Johnson attempts a similar move next week, Luna and several of her GOP allies insist they will vote against any effort to reopen the floor. The speaker’s leadership circle, meanwhile, says if he doesn’t try to kill Luna’s petition, House Freedom Caucus hard-liners who oppose proxy voting will themselves defeat any attempt to get House business moving as usual.

Johnson’s circle is aware of the optics of opposing accommodations for new mothers while also upholding their pro-life values and not risking electoral blowback ahead of the midterms.

“As the father of a large family, I know firsthand the difficulty and countless sacrifices that come with balancing family life and service in Congress,” Johnson wrote Wednesday. “New mothers and all young parents face real challenges in this regard. We truly empathize with them.”

But he said he had an obligation to “defend and uphold the Constitution and the integrity of this institution, which has stood the test of time for more than two centuries.”

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Congress

Luna discusses possible solution to new parent proxy voting with Johnson

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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) has discussed a potential solution with Speaker Mike Johnson over her push to allow proxy voting for new parents, the congresswoman said in a post on X.

“[Johnson] has called me after POTUS statement and we discussed limiting the vote to just new moms who cannot physically travel in event of emergency,” Luna said in the post. “This is smart.”

President Donald Trump told reporters earlier on Thursday that he endorsed letting new mothers vote by proxy in the House — but ultimately said it was Johnson’s decision. Luna had forced a vote on the issue, which tanked the rest of Johnson’s legislative plans for the week after an attempt to stop her effort through a rule vote.

“I don’t know why it’s controversial,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday, according to a pool report. He added, “I’m going to let the speaker make the decision, but I like the idea.”

Johnson, a former constitutional lawyer facing, is pressure from conservative hard-liners to stop Luna and has argued the practice is unconstitutional. Moments before Luna’s tweet, Johnson shared an op-ed from the Washington Times in opposition to expanding proxy voting in a post on X that has since been deleted.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one conservative hard-liner against allowing new parents to vote by proxy, responded to Luna’s update that the possible solution is still “unconstitutional” and “wrong” in a post on X.

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Congress

Trump backs Luna on proxy voting — but says it is Johnson’s call

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President Donald Trump endorsed Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s (R-Fla.) resolution to allow proxy voting for expectant mothers in Congress — but signaled he isn’t interested in going to the mat for the change.

“I don’t know why it’s controversial,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday, according to a pool report.

The support for Luna’s push comes after Trump spoke with the member of Congress on Wednesday. Luna told NewsNation Wednesday that “the president assured that this would get resolved.”

The proxy vote fight has stalled Speaker Mike Johnson’s ambitious plan to pass the “big, beautiful” budget bill, after a handful of Republicans joined Democrats to reject Johnson’s moves to block Luna’s proposal. Johnson repeated his opposition on Wednesday, but said there “may be a path” to get the House unjammed.

Trump said Thursday that he’s in favor of the resolution. But he stressed that the decision rests with Johnson.

“I’m going to let the speaker make the decision, but I like the idea,” Trump added.

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Congress

Democrats take aim at Trump’s latest tariffs

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After successfully engineering a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump, Senate Democrats want to do it again: They’re eyeing a new measure that could splinter Republicans and potentially undo the sweeping tariffs Trump rolled out Wednesday.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who led the push to undo Trump’s Canada tariffs that won approval Wednesday, said it was “likely” that Democrats would move forward with legislation taking aim at the new, more sweeping levies. The vote, he said, wouldn’t occur until after the Senate returns from a two-week recess slated to start on April 11.

One of the laws Trump used to levy the latest tariffs, the National Emergencies Act, allows Congress to quickly debate and vote on a disapproval resolution that would effectively cancel the tariffs. But actually doing so faces major obstacles: Not only would the Senate have to act, but the GOP-controlled House would have to approve the same measure. Trump could then still veto it, forcing a two-thirds-majority override vote.

Democrats are still poring through Trump’s latest round of sweeping tariffs to determine which ones they could potentially target for cancellation. But Kaine said he believed support for rolling back the new tariffs will only grow with time. Four Republicans joined Democrats on Wednesday’s vote, and he predicted a “larger universe” of support for the forthcoming measure.

“I think people need to go home and hear what their constituents are telling them, so I think having it timed so that it comes up over recess is the right time,” Kaine said.

Separately, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York — the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee — said Wednesday he would introduce a similar measure. Speaker Mike Johnson led an effort to block a vote on a Meeks-led disapproval resolution targeting the Canada tariffs last month and could do so again for the new round of tariffs.

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