Proxy voting for new moms makes motherhood look like weakness

In recent days, babies have taken center stage at the US Capitol, carried by their congresswoman mothers advocating for a rule change to allow proxy voting for new parents.

Representatives Anna Paulina Luna, Republican from Florida, and Brittany Pettersen, Democrat from Colorado, crossed the aisle to propose that House members be allowed twelve weeks to delegate their votes after childbirth.

This effort, while well-intentioned, ignores the historical and practical significance of in-person voting in Congress.

Article I, Section 4, Clause 2 of the Constitution states: “The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year.” This expectation was upended during Covid-19 when then-Speaker Pelosi implemented proxy voting in May 2020 – an “experiment” ended by Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

And the experiment failed. Proxy voting quickly turned into a loophole exploited by members casting votes from campaign trails, vacations or even celebrity weddings abroad. It became a convenience – not a necessity – and was abused by those who didn’t want to show up.

Speaker Johnson explained his opposition to reviving the rule:

To allow proxy voting for one category of members would open the door for many others and ultimately result in remote voting that would harm the operation of our deliberative body and diminish the critical role of the legislative branch.

While the President appeared supportive at first, Speaker Johnson later quoted him saying, “Mike, you have my proxy on proxy voting,” a tongue-in-cheek remark that underscores just how unserious this proposal has become. Johnson added, “Democrats tried proxy voting before, and it was terribly abused. We cannot open that Pandora’s box again.”

Ironically, one of the loudest voices opposing proxy voting now – Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene – once used it herself, allegedly while on vacation, according to Luna. If anyone knows how easily proxy voting can be misused, it’s those who misused it.

The slippery slope is obvious. Postpartum mothers may require time to recover – but so do people recovering from surgeries, illnesses or injuries. Why should postpartum recovery be the sole exception for proxy voting?

We’ve seen elderly members wheeled to the House floor, Weekend at Bernie’s style, just to cast a vote. That visibility matters. If we begin allowing proxy voting for some physical conditions, what stops others from hiding serious health issues from the American people under the same justification?

There is no clear limiting principle here.

Sometimes, members can’t vote. That’s been part of the job since the earliest days of the Republic – from weather delays before cars to Representative Steve Scalise missing months after being shot at a baseball practice. Life happens. Absences happen. That’s not unique to pregnancy.

Representative Pettersen, in her advocacy, carried her baby on Morning Joe and on the House floor. The performance was intended to show that she can be both a congresswoman and a mother. And she can. She also has taxpayer-funded daycare, private staff and support systems that the average working mother could only dream of. Walking to the House floor to vote takes 15 minutes. She has the resources to do it.

As Representative Luna said on X, “We have multiple members expecting children. We lose precious time to pass President Trump’s agenda if we lose those members even for just a few weeks while they recover.” But then why is Luna grinding the legislative process to a halt over a deeply unpopular rule change? Democrats, seizing the chance to divide Republicans and stall their agenda, have eagerly joined in. Disappointingly, so have some Republicans.

Make it make sense.

As the mother of six children, I know the reality of physical recovery after childbirth. Most women don’t need weeks or months before they’re capable of walking a few hundred feet from their office to the House floor to cast a vote. We are not porcelain dolls needing to be tucked away and protected post-delivery.

Women are strong. We are capable of both serving in Congress and being mothers. That’s the message we should be sending – to our daughters, to society – not one that reinforces the outdated notion that motherhood is a weakness that requires special exemptions.