Congress
GOP proxy-voting supporters kill Johnson’s power move
Nine House Republicans voted with Democrats Tuesday to reject Speaker Mike Johnson’s bid to block a GOP member from allowing lawmakers who are new parents to cast their votes by proxy vote.
House Republican leaders inserted language into a procedural measure that would effectively kill Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s proxy-voting proposal, which is due to come to the floor later this week. Luna had circumvented party leaders by successfully pursuing a discharge petition.
That measure failed on a 222-206 vote, with eight Republicans joining Luna to block it.
Approving the “rule,” as the measure is known, would have tabled the discharge petition and blocked future similar proposals, leading Luna and other Republicans to line up against it. Luna and 11 other House Republicans had signed onto the discharge petition to force consideration of the proxy-voting measure.
The proposal has roiled House Republicans, with Luna opting to leave the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus over the dispute.
GOP leadership, with the support of conservative hard-liners, has opposed the proxy-voting proposal, calling it unconstitutional.
But the failure of Tuesday afternoon’s vote spells trouble for the rest of the House GOP’s plans this week. In addition to blocking Luna’s bill, the rule would have teed up the rest of the legislative agenda, including a closely watched measure to rein in federal judges who have opposed President Donald Trump.
President Donald Trump and top White House officials are privately lobbying Republican senators to delay a ban on intoxicating hemp that’s set to kick in this fall.
At the Trump administration’s urging, the government funding patch the Senate is working to pass this week would push off the forthcoming ban of some cannabis products derived from hemp. But several Republican senators are demanding a vote to strip the delay out and let that prohibition kick in come November.
They’re hearing from the White House about it.
Trump called Sen. Ted Budd on Tuesday night, after the North Carolina Republican filed an amendment to ensure the ban kicks in as mandated on Nov. 12, according to a Senate aide granted anonymity to describe the private discussion. On the call, the president discussed creating a federal regulatory framework for hemp but did not ask Budd to withdraw his amendment, the individual added.
“I’ve been asked by lots of people to stand down on this amendment,” Budd told reporters Wednesday.
Budd noted that the Trump administration has had almost nine months to come up with a plan for implementing the ban.
“So why all of a sudden pop up for some seemingly innocent delay?” he asked, accusing the White House of instead preparing to “jam this on some must-pass” funding package at year’s end to further delay the prohibition.
A White House official granted anonymity to discuss the private debate said the Trump administration is seeking “a modest four-week delay” through the Dec. 11 expiration of the funding patch “to allow for productive conversations to continue.” Some synthetic cannabis products would be permanently banned in the meantime, the official added.
The administration lobbying has successfully swayed some Senate Republicans, such as Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who said in an interview that “the White House has committed to me that they’re committed to regulate the industry.”
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of hemp-rich Kentucky said the issue came up “in a big way” during Senate Republicans’ private lunch meeting Wednesday. Paul said he spoke in support of delaying the ban and said those arguing for a delay “aren’t very rational.”
“They’re wanting to hold up the funding for the government over one month,” he said. “It’s kind of insane.”
Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is in the Capitol meeting with holdout GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bill Cassidy of Louisiania as he tries to lock down their support for his confirmation as permanent leader of the Justice Department.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) declined to respond directly Wednesday to Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to denounce his former son-in-law Rep. Max Miller over abuse accusations leveled by Moreno’s daughter: “These aren’t accusations in my world,” he said.
“In my world, this is the reality,” Moreno told reporters at the Capitol. “This is not something that is theoretical to me. This is my lived reality of my daughter and my family every single solitary day.”
In an interview with Dasha Burns for Blue Light News’s The Conversation, Johnson declined to take sides in the dispute between Miller (R-Ohio) and Emily Moreno. He called for a House Ethics probe to “play out.”
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