众议院周二投票阻止共和党领导人阻止即将举行的对新父母代理投票的投票，这使得众议院陷入瘫痪，此前几名共和党人加入民主党人，破坏了一项程序规则，以推动一揽子共和党法案中的请愿。
投票以206比222失败，九名共和党人支持一致的民主党核心小组，组成了一个不同寻常的两党联盟-这一出人意料的发展使众议院暂时陷入瘫痪。
他们投票表决的联合规则将阻止众议员安娜·保利娜·卢娜(Anna Paulina Luna)的两党出院请愿书，允许新的立法者父母(包括新的母亲和父亲)在分娩后12周内进行代理投票。露娜在2023年有了一个孩子，当时她在国会任职。
共和党众议员卢纳、凯文·凯利、蒂姆·伯切特、杰夫·范·德鲁、格雷格·斯图贝、迈克·劳勒、瑞安·麦肯齐、尼克·拉洛塔和马克斯·米勒都投票反对议长迈克·约翰逊，他认为这一努力是违宪的。
“我们作为一个团队工作，我认为今天对整个会议来说是一个非常具有历史意义的日子，”卢娜在投票后告诉ABC新闻的杰伊·奥布莱恩。“这表明该机构已经决定，父母应该在华盛顿有发言权，也表明女性成员对华盛顿特区抱有希望的重要性。”
民主党众议员Brittany Pettersen和Sara Jacobs在1月份与Luna和共和党众议员Lawler一起介绍了这项工作。投票结束后，彼得森称赞卢娜是“勇猛的冠军”。
“我们正在改变国会的工作方式，确保母亲和父母有发言权，我很自豪能成为其中的一员，”彼得森抱着她9周大的儿子说，并为约翰逊添加了一条亵渎的信息:“不要和母亲们搞在一起。”
包括约翰逊在内的众议院共和党领导人曾表示，他们将采取前所未有的措施阻止卢娜的请愿——这是众议院共和党长达一周的内部冲突中的最新举措。
投票结束后，众议院共和党领导人取消了本周剩余时间的投票。约翰逊说，因为规则投票失败，“我们本周不能在地板上有任何进一步的行动。”
“真令人失望。少数共和党人与所有民主党人一起推翻了一项很少实施的规则。这是非常不幸的，”约翰逊在投票后说。
卢娜说，她有动力推动这项立法，让国会“变得更好”，给更多“年轻的美国父母”一个席位。
彼得森周二在众议院发言支持卢娜的决议，当时她抱着她9周大的儿子萨姆。
当山姆在他母亲的怀里咕咕叫、尖叫、尖叫和哭泣时，彼得森-肩上挂着一块打嗝布-恳求两党合作，以“使国会现代化”，并解决立法者的生活事件。
“没有父母应该处在我和许多父母所处的位置。这是反女性、反家庭的，我们需要团结起来，”她在众议院说。
彼得森是第13位在国会任职期间生过孩子的众议院议员，在儿子早产后回到华盛顿意味着她“面临一个不可能的决定”。
“要让像我这样的年轻家庭能够进入这个地方，我们还有很长的路要走，”彼得森说。“对于这里的所有父母来说，我们知道当我们有了新生儿时，他们是一生中最脆弱的时候。这是他们需要全天候照顾的时候。”
彼得森说，山姆在投票时睡着了，并补充说，“我迫不及待地想告诉他他已经成为了其中的一部分。”
卢娜的决议获得了218个签名，足以迫使众议院对该措施进行投票。立法者利用解雇请愿书来绕过领导层，领导层决定什么样的立法提交到议会。
俄亥俄州众议员米勒投票反对该规则，他在X上的一篇帖子中说，“我不能凭良心投票支持一项前所未有的规则，该规则将从众议员卢娜的解雇请愿书中拉出地毯，该请愿书获得了公平合理的必要签名。”
众议员劳勒在X日的一份声明中说，“众议员卢娜遵守了规则，并获得了众议院大多数人的支持，以履行她的法案。中途改变规则是错误的，会损害议会。此外，它开创了一个危险的先例——一个我们将来会后悔的先例。”
约翰逊和卢娜在新父母的代理投票问题上意见不一。
约翰逊认为，代理投票是滑坡的开始，可能会导致越来越多的成员远程投票。代理投票在新冠肺炎疫情期间被使用，这是许多共和党人反对的。
“议长有责任保护机构的完整性，这就是事情的原委，”约翰逊在投票后说，后来又说，“他们这样做有情感原因，但我们会继续执政。这是一个很小的原因，微弱的多数，我们必须就一切建立共识。我希望他们没有选这门课。”
约翰逊曾表示，代理投票“打开了潘多拉的盒子，最终，可能没有人在这里，我们都通过人工智能或其他东西远程投票。”
“这是一个审议机构。如果你在别的地方，你就不能和你的同事讨论。现在，有些家庭情况使得人们很难参加投票。我明白。我自己也有过，”约翰逊上周说。
众议院共和党人定于本周就几项法案进行投票，包括“无流氓裁决法案”和“拯救法案”，但这些法案不会得到投票，因为本周的日程已经取消。
不清楚领导层下一步会做什么。
根据ABC新闻获得的一封信，投票是在卢娜因她的立法从极端保守的众议院自由核心小组辞职后一天进行的。
“怀着沉重的心情，我从自由核心小组辞职。她在信中写道:“我不能继续成为一个核心小组的一部分，在这个小组中，少数几个人在其指导方针之外运作，滥用其名称，进行破坏其核心价值观的幕后交易，妥协和交易的界限模糊不清，在媒体面前贬低我，并鼓励向美国人民歪曲我。”
Republicans and Democrats team up to defy House leadership on voting for new parents
The House voted on Tuesday to stop Republican leaders from blocking an impending vote on proxy voting for new parents -- now leaving the House paralyzed after several Republicans joined Democrats to torpedo a procedural rule to advance the petition in a package of Republican bills.
The vote failed 206-222, with nine Republicans siding with a unanimous Democratic caucus to form an unusual bipartisan coalition -- throwing the House in a temporary paralysis with the surprise development.
The joint rule they voted on would have blocked Rep. Anna Paulina Luna's bipartisan discharge petition to allow proxy voting for new lawmaker parents -- both new mothers and fathers -- up to 12 weeks after giving birth. Luna had a child in 2023 as she was serving in Congress.
Republican Reps. Luna, Kevin Kiley, Tim Burchett, Jeff Van Drew, Greg Steube, Mike Lawler, Ryan Mackenzie, Nick LaLota and Max Miller all voted to defy Speaker Mike Johnson, who has argued the effort is unconstitutional.
"We worked as a team and I think that today is a pretty historical day for the entire conference," Luna told ABC News' Jay O'Brien after the vote. "It's showing that the body has decided that parents deserve a voice in Washington, and also to the importance of female members having a hope in Washington, D.C."
Democratic Reps. Brittany Pettersen and Sara Jacobs introduced the effort with Luna and Republican Rep. Lawler in January. After the vote, Pettersen praised Luna as a "fierce champion."
"We're changing the way that Congress works, making sure that moms and parents have a voice, and I'm just so proud to be a part of this," Pettersen, who held her 9-week-old son, said -- adding a profane message for Johnson: "Don't f--- with moms."
House Republican leaders, including Johnson, had said they would take the unprecedented step to block Luna's petition -- the latest move in a weekslong internal House GOP clash.
After the vote, House GOP leaders canceled votes for the rest of the week. Johnson said because the rule vote failed, "we can't have any further action on the floor this week."
"It's disappointing. A handful of Republicans joined with all the Democrats to take down a rule that's rarely done. It's very unfortunate," Johnson said after the vote.
Luna said she was motivated to bring the legislation forward to "change" Congress "for the better" and bring give more "young American parents" a seat at the table.
Pettersen spoke in favor of Luna's resolution on the House floor Tuesday as she held her 9-week-old son, Sam.
As Sam cooed, squealed, squeaked and cried in his mother's arms, Pettersen -- with a burp cloth slung over her shoulder -- pleaded for bipartisan cooperation to "modernize Congress" and address life events for lawmakers.
"No mom or dad should be in the position that I was in and so many parents have found themselves in. It is anti-woman, it's anti-family and we need to come together," she said on the House floor.
Pettersen is only the 13th member of the House to have given birth while serving in Congress -- and returning to Washington after her son was born prematurely meant she "faced an impossible decision."
"We have a long ways to go to make this place accessible for young families like mine," Pettersen said. "For all of the parents here, we know that when we have newborns, it's when they're the most vulnerable in their life. It's when they need 24-7 care."
Pettersen said Sam slept through the vote, adding, "I can't wait to tell him what he's been a part of."
Luna received 218 signatures on her resolution -- enough needed to force the House to vote on the measure. Lawmakers use discharge petitions to circumvent leadership, who determine what legislation comes to the floor.
Ohio Rep. Miller, who voted against the rule, said in a post on X, "I could not in good conscience vote for an unprecedented rule that would pull the rug out from under Representative Luna's discharge petition that got the required signatures fair and square."
Rep. Lawler said in a statement on X that "Rep. Luna followed the rules and secured the support of a majority of the House to discharge her bill. To change the rules midstream is wrong and undermines the House. Furthermore, it sets a dangerous precedent — one we will regret in the future."
Johnson and Luna have been at odds over proxy voting for new parents.
Johnson has argued that proxy voting is the start of a slippery slope that could lead to more and more members voting remotely. Proxy voting was used during the COVID-19 pandemic, which many Republicans were against.
"The speaker is charged with protecting the integrity of the institution, and that's what this was about," Johnson said after the vote, later saying there are "emotional reasons for doing what they're doing, but we're going to keep governing. This is a small reason, thin majority, and we have to build consensus on everything. And I wish they'd not taken this course."
Johnson has said proxy voting "opens Pandora's box where, ultimately, maybe no one is here, and we're all voting remotely by AI or something."
"This is a deliberative body. You cannot deliberate with your colleagues if you're out somewhere else. Now, there are family circumstances that make it difficult for people to attend votes. I understand that. I've had them myself," Johnson said last week.
House Republicans were slated to vote on several bills this week including the "No Rogue Rulings Act" and the "SAVE Act," but those bills won't receive a vote now that the schedule for the week has been scrapped.
It's unclear what leadership will do next.
The vote came a day after Luna resigned from the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus over her legislation, according to a letter obtained by ABC News.
"With a heavy heart, I am resigning from the Freedom Caucus. I cannot remain part of a caucus where a select few operate outside its guidelines, misuse its name, broker backroom deals that undermine its core values and where the lines of compromise and transaction are blurred, disparage me to the press, and encourage misrepresentation of me to the American people," she wrote in the letter.
