The Home Guidelines Committee went into recess on Monday evening with out taking motion that may tee up a method for Home Republican leaders to dam Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) from forcing a vote on permitting new mother and father to vote by proxy.
The panel is scheduled to reconvene at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, when it should unveil and move a rule that can formally reveal if GOP leaders will play hardball in attempting to defeat the proposal.
Luna and others are ready for the official play name from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has been having discussions with members over the past week about find out how to deal with the matter — and has not satisfied a defiant Luna to again down.
Luna earlier this month defied management and oversaw a profitable discharge petition — getting signatures from over 200 Democrats and 11 different Republicans — that might enable her to make use of privileged standing to drive ground motion on a decision to permit members who give delivery or lawmakers whose spouses give delivery to designate one other member to vote on their behalf for 12 weeks.
However Luna’s one-time allies within the Home Freedom Caucus have been pushing Johnson to play legislative hardball to cease it from transferring ahead.
One proposal being mentioned is to “turn off” the discharge petition privilege that may enable Luna to drive a vote, attaching that mechanism to a rule decision that may tee up consideration for different Republican priorities.
Such a transfer would imply that those that needed to help Luna by voting towards the rule would even be blocking speedy consideration of these priorities. Whereas all Democrats are anticipated to vote towards the rule, it’s unclear if Luna would have the help from Republicans to defeat such a gambit and permit her proxy voting proposal to maneuver ahead.
Home Majority Chief Steve Scalise (R-La.) stated Monday evening that “there’s still some conversations being had” on find out how to deal with the proxy voting matter, and the choice about whether or not so as to add language to “turn off” privilege was not last.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the Guidelines Committee, stated Monday that he was undecided what the plan was on whether or not the rule would deal with the proxy voting challenge.
The precise language and proposal would transfer by the Home Guidelines Committee, which on Monday evening accomplished the listening to portion of Republican-supported proposals: The No Rogue Rulings Act, which might restrict the ability of federal judges to impose nationwide injunctions like those who have blocked Trump administration actions; and the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which might require proof of citizenship so as to register to vote.
Luna is livid on the prospect of the management transfer — and by her fellow Freedom Caucus working towards her, main her to depart the group.
In her letter saying her departure from the hardline group, Luna wrote: “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.”
Home Majority Chief Steve Scalise (R-La.) stated Monday evening that Luna needed to “team up with mostly Democrats, 90 percent Democrats, who are in the minority” to set her as much as set off a vote on proxy voting for brand new mother and father.
“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,” Scalise stated.
Mychael Schnell contributed.
