Trump agenda upended after GOP protest in House

The GOP run House is in turmoil again, and either Donald Trump or Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) needs to get this fight settled ASAP.

Rep. Luna (R-FL) was attempting to allow proxy voting for House members who had recently given birth. Her fellow Republicans are fighting the bill, and it has brought Congress to a grinding halt.

Playing hardball

Luna and a handful of Republicans joined more than 200 Democrats to support legislation presented by Rep. Brittany Petterson (D-CO) that would allow proxy voting for mothers in Congress who have recently given birth.

Now, that in and of itself is rather comical when you consider Democrats cannot define a woman and many of them will no longer use the term mother, but I digress.

Luna led the effort on the right to back the legislation by filing a discharge petition, which would have forced the vote on the floor, but the majority of the GOP was fighting that.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) compared the legislation to Pelosi’s proxy rule during COVID, stating, “We’re in the majority on the Republican side, and want to be able to move the Republican agenda. And you know, I’d rather not move Pelosi policies over the majority.”

Luna leaves Freedom Caucus

The rift has resulted in Luna leaving the House Freedom Caucus, stating, "With a heavy heart, I am resigning from the Freedom Caucus.”

Luna accuses caucus members of threatening Speaker Johnson (R-LA) by saying they would block floor proceedings unless he changed the rules to block her support for the bill with the discharge motion.

She stated, "This tactic was not just a betrayal of trust; it was a descent into the very behavior we have long condemned — a practice that we, as a group, have repeatedly criticized leadership for allowing.”

Rep. Jim McGovern (R-MA) was among those supporting Luna’s efforts, stating, "We're not talking about blanket proxy voting. We're talking about proxy voting for new parents."

Grinding halt

Speaker Johnson more or less gave the House a five-day weekend after the infighting resulted in the vote being shut down.

Johnson appeared to point the finger at Luna for this, stating, "It's a very disappointing result on the floor there, a handful of Republicans joined with all the Democrats to take down a rule. That's rarely done. It's very unfortunate. That rule being brought down means that we can't have any further action on the floor this week."

Luna responded, "I think that today is a pretty historical day for the entire conference and showing that, yeah, the body has decided that parents deserve a voice in Washington and also to the importance of female members having a vote in Washington D.C.”

While I do not want to see proxy voting, I would be okay if they allowed remote voting for this particular scenario, and I think doing that would give the GOP a boost with women voters in this country, something they badly need. Regardless, this is utterly embarrassing for the GOP, which cannot seem to get legislation passed in the House without it blowing up in their faces. Time for everyone to stop acting like children and get to work.