Lawmakers push for proxy voting for new parents in House rules

Rep. Brittany Pettersen testified at a Rules Committee hearing in favor of allowing new parents to delegate floor votes for up to 12 weeks after childbirth. She described the difficulty of traveling with an infant for votes. A previous effort fell short after a deal to use vote pairing instead.

Pettersen's personal experience illustrates the logistical strain of congressional parenting; her infant son had flown 24 times by six months as she commuted for votes. She returned to Washington just four weeks postpartum for a budget vote. The previous proxy voting push collapsed when Luna accepted a vote-pairing compromise with Speaker Johnson.

The proposal follows the pandemic-era proxy system Democrats created in 2020, which Republicans eliminated in 2023 amid abuse concerns. Vote Mama Foundation data shows only 7 percent of House members are mothers of young children versus 18 percent nationally. Jacobs said the issue could determine whether she starts a family.