The camera voted on Tuesday to prevent Republican leaders from blocking an imminent vote on the vote of power for new parents.
The vote failed 206-222, with nine Republicans who put on the side of a unanimous democratic caucus to form an unusual bipartisan coalition, throwing the camera in a temporary paralysis with the surprise development.
The joint rule in which they voted would have blocked the high bipartisan request of the representative Anna Paulina Luna to allow the vote by power of the new parents of the legislators up to 12 weeks after giving birth.
In this archive photo of January 3, 2025, president of the representative of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, participates in a ceremonial sworn with the representative Anna Paulina Luna, her husband Andrew Gamberzky and her son, in the Capitol of the United States in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong/Getty images, file
Republican representatives Luna, Kevin Kiley, Tim Burchett, Jeff Van Drew, Greg Steube, Mike Lawler, Ryan Mackenzie, Nick Lalota and Max Miller voted to challenge President Mike Johnson, who has argued that the effort is innstitive.
Republican leaders of the House of Representatives, including Johnson, had said they would take the unprecedented step to block Luna’s request, the last movement in an internal shock of the one -week Republican Party.
Luna’s legislation seeks to allow new mothers and fathers in the Chamber to vote on legislation remotely. Luna had a son in 2023 while serving in Congress.
Democratic representatives Brittany Pettersen and Sara Jacobs introduced the effort with Luna and the Republican representative Lawler in January.
In this archive photo of October 17, 2023, representative Anna Paulina Lun
Anna MoneyMaker/Getty images, file
“I am doing this because I believe that this governing body needs to change for the best and young American parents must be heard in the halls of Congress,” Luna said last week.
Pettersen spoke in favor of the moon resolution on the floor of the house on Tuesday while holding her 9 -week son, Sam.
While Sam lulled, shrieked, screamed and cried in his mother’s arms, Pettersen, with an eruption fabric hung on his shoulder, begged bipartisan cooperation to “modernize Congress” and address life events for legislators.
Representative Brittany Pettersen with her son on the floor of the house, on April 1, 2025, in Washington, DC.
House TV
“No mom or dad should be in the position in which he was and so many parents have found themselves. It’s anti-woman, it’s anti-family and we have to join,” he said on the floor of the house.
Pettersen is only the 13th chamber member who has given birth while serving in Congress, and returned to Washington after his son was born prematurely, “faced an impossible decision.”
“We have a long way to go so that this place is accessible to young families like mine,” said Pettersen. “For all parents here, we know that when we have newborns, it is when they are the most vulnerable in their lives. It is when they need 24-7” attention.
Luna received 218 signatures about its resolution, necessary enough to force the camera to vote on the measure. Legislators use high requests to avoid leadership, who determine what legislation reaches the floor.
Johnson and Luna have disagree on the vote of representation by the new parents.
Johnson has argued that the vote of power is the beginning of a slippery slope that could lead to more and more members to vote remotely. Voting for power was used during the Covid-19 pandemic, with which many Republicans were against.
“I think it is unconstitutional. I think it violates more than two centuries of tradition in the institution, and I think it opens a pandora box where, ultimately, maybe nobody is here, and we are all voting remotely for the or something.
The president of the Chamber of the House of Representatives speaks with the journalists when he arrives for a closed door strategy session with other Republicans before the ads of President Donald Trump about rates, in the Capitol, in Washington, on April 1, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Despite republican support for the bill, Johnson said: “As the leader of this institution and the one who is supposed to protect it, I do not feel that I can admit that.”
“This is a deliberative body. You cannot deliberate with your colleagues if you are outside.
Representative Anna Paulina Luna talks to the attendees before the joint speech of President Donald Trump to Congress at the United States Capitol, on March 4, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty images, file
The vote occurred one day after Luna resigned from the Caucus of the Freedom of the Chamber of Ultra Conservative Representatives about their legislation, according to a letter obtained by ABC News.
“With a heavy heart, I am renouncing the Caucus de la Libertad. I cannot remain part of a caucus in which a few selected operate outside their guidelines, they use their name poor The lyrics
Lalee Ibssa and Sarah Beth Hensley of ABC News contributed to this report.
