Tennessee U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) joined a group of bipartisan representatives on Thursday to announce his support for a resolution allowing new moms in Congress to vote by proxy up to six weeks postpartum.
New mothers in Congress shouldn't have to choose between caring for their newborn baby or representing their constituents.
Thanks to @RepLuna and @RepSaraJacobs for leading a bill to ensure they won't have to. pic.twitter.com/Rf59j9Nmlo
— Rep. Tim Burchett (@RepTimBurchett) January 18, 2024
Clause 2 of rule III of the Rules of the House of Representatives currently reads as follows:
A vote by a member of a committee or subcommittee with respect to any measure or matter may not be cast by proxy.
The resolution, H.Res.967, would amend Clause 2 of rule III by adding the following paragraph:
In the case of a Member who has given birth, the Member may, during the period that begins on the date of such birth and ends 6 weeks after such date, designate another Member as a proxy who may cast the vote of such Member, but in no case may another Member record the presence of such Member for the purposes of establishing a quorum in the House or the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.
The resolution was introduced on Tuesday by Florida U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL-13), who gave birth to her first child, Henry, last year.
“Women who give birth as members of Congress should still have the right to vote. I am introducing legislation to ensure that mothers are not alienated. As it stands currently, while you are recovering from birth you cannot vote,” Luna wrote on X after introducing the resolution.
“New mothers in Congress should never be forced to choose between their families and representing their constituents,” Luna added in another post.
During a press conference on the resolution, Tennessee’s Burchett said that while he supports the current rule because members of Congress would “abuse the practice during COVID,” he supports Luna’s resolution to amend the rule because “you can’t fake a pregnancy.”
“This resolution is just common sense. We shouldn’t force new mothers in Congress to choose between representing their constituents or caring for their newborn child…This is something that we shouldn’t even have a discussion about,” Burchett added.
As of Thursday, Luna’s resolution was cosponsored by 20 Democrats and four Republicans.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Vote in person and in person only! After the Republicans’ tantrums about voting, I see no reason to let Congress do something that they won’t allow the average citizen to do!
This seems reasonable, however, maybe we need a resolution that requires our Representative to actually work at least 5 day weeks while in session, and to be in session a minimum of 48 weeks per year.