U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie bucked his party on allowing new parents in Congress to vote by proxy
Mackenzie, who has a nearly 1-year-old son, said his work in the Pennsylvania statehouse creating a maternal mortality review committee helped inform him on what new mothers and parents go through.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie thinks lawmakers who are new parents should be able to vote by proxy in Congress to allow them to stay home to take care of their newborn babies.
The Lehigh Valley Republican joined eight other Republicans and all Democrats on Tuesday voting against a measure that would have blocked the chance to vote on such a resolution. The measure to block the vote was defeated 222-206.
Mackenzie, who has a nearly 1-year-old son, said his work in the Pennsylvania statehouse creating a maternal mortality review committee helped inform him on what new mothers and parents go through.
“For me, I would like to see a vote on the proxy voting,” Mackenzie said shortly after the vote.
Two new mothers — Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado — sponsored the legislation. Pettersen appeared on the House floor for a speech Tuesday with her infant son, Sam, in her arms and a burp cloth draped over her shoulder.
“It is unfathomable that in 2025 we have not modernized Congress,” Pettersen said. “We’re asking you to continue to stand with us.”
Republicans who oppose the measure have argued that lawmakers are elected to show up in person and House Speaker Mike Johnson has specifically railed against proxy voting at the same time President Donald Trump has implemented return-to-work policies for federal workers.
But Mackenzie said he respectfully disagrees with that opinion when it comes to new parents.
“I think that this is a really unique circumstance when somebody is having a child. Oftentimes you cannot plan the timing of something like that, and I think we should just be more accommodating of that," he said. “And also with the technology that we do have, we do know that you can vote this way, and you can vote by proxy.”
The resolution would allow proxy voting — where absent lawmakers can instruct those present to vote on their behalf — for up to 12 weeks for lawmakers who have given birth, or those who are pregnant and unable to travel to Congress safely. Spouses of new parents would also be granted the 12-week proxy. New parents serving in Congress would designate another member of Congress as a proxy to vote on their behalf.
Republicans prohibited proxy voting after they took control of the House in 2023.
The break in GOP ranks prompted Johnson to cancel votes for the rest of the week.
The GOP has a narrow majority in the House, which Johnson has largely managed to hold. But Johnson’s unusually aggressive move to squash a vote on the resolution, which had large bipartisan support, was rare and rankled the bill’s supporters.
U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Luzerne) initially signed onto the measure, but said he’s now against it and voted with Johnson and House Republicans, hoping to kill the vote on Tuesday.
Meuser said he supported new moms voting by proxy but did not realize the bill allowed spouses 12 weeks of proxy voting as well.
“The spousal end of it, I think it’s way too long,” Meuser said. “It just seemed like it was really excessive.”