Despite being an elected official, Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) won’t be heard. Neither will the voices of her constituents. The reason? This week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) denied Pettersen’s bipartisan resolution to allow pregnant congresspeople to vote by proxy. The measure would’ve allowed those sidelined by pregnancy to continue to work and participate in the legislature. U.S. conservatives have a long history of lobbying against such accommodations. With President-Elect Trump‘s second inauguration only days away, his congressional allies seem as bold as ever. Will Speaker Johnson’s own history of proxy votes come back to haunt him?
House Speaker Johnson’s Shuts Down Proxy Voting
As Trump’s second inauguration on Jan. 20 draws near, some of his allies have been doubling down on controversial positions, seemingly emboldened by the incoming regime. That appears to be the case with Johnson. The House Speaker arguably only made things worse when he spoke to NBC News’s Sahil Kapur about proxy voting, saying,
“I have great sympathy, empathy for all of our young women legislators who are of birthing age. It’s a real quandary. But I’m afraid it doesn’t fit with the language of the Constitution, and that’s the inescapable truth that we have.”
Johnson’s statement is disingenuous for several reasons. As much as he’d like to label his position “the inescapable truth,” U.S. courts haven’t always agreed with him. Further, claiming to empathize with people you’re actively disenfranchising isn’t the best look. Neither is calling proxy voting “a real quandary” when proxy voting is only an issue because Johnson and his allies decided to make it one.
Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Worse, Johnson has a personal record of proxy voting when it was convenient for him. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) was quick to point that out in a post on X, calling Johnson’s refusal “anti-family.” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) called out the hypocrisy as well in another thread, citing the “nearly 40 times” that Speaker Johnson personally engaged in proxy voting. So far, nothing has dissuaded Speaker Johnson from the “do as I say, not as I do” attitude he’s seemingly adopted.
