House Republicans are set to advance two key bills backed by President Donald Trump this week after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., resolved a weekslong standoff with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., over the issue of remote voting for new parents in Congress.
The House is poised to vote this week on the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, which requires proof of citizenship in the voter registration process; and the No Rogue Rulings Act (NORRA) by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., which would limit district court judges’ ability to issue orders blocking Trump policies nationwide.
Both were expected to get a vote last week, but those plans were derailed amid a standoff over House procedure that ground business-as-usual to a halt.
‘Speaker Johnson and I have reached an agreement to bring back a procedure called live/dead pairing, which dates back to the 1800s. It will be open for the entire conference to use when unable to vote (e.g., new parents, bereaved, emergencies, etc.),’ Luna wrote on X Sunday evening.
‘Thanks to [Trump] and his guidance, as well as all of those who worked to get this change done, this is becoming the most modern, pro-family Congress we’ve ever seen.’
Johnson’s office confirmed to Fox News Digital that the speaker announced a deal had been reached with Luna on a Republican lawmaker-only call on Sunday afternoon.
The compromise they agreed to invokes an old congressional custom that essentially cancels out an absent new mother’s vote by ‘pairing’ it with a vote by someone on the other side of the issue. Neither vote would count, but their stances on the issue would be noted in the Congressional Record.
Johnson’s office said they also reached an agreement on boosting accessibility for young mothers in the Capitol as well.
The House floor was left paralyzed last Tuesday afternoon when a small group of GOP lawmakers upended their leaders’ effort to quash a bill by Luna that would have allowed new parents to vote by proxy for 12 weeks surrounding their child’s birth.
Luna was readying to force a vote on her legislation via a discharge petition, a mechanism allowing lawmakers to force bills into House consideration provided they can get signatures from a majority of the chamber.
Johnson, who believes proxy voting is unconstitutional, attached language to kill discharge petitions to an unrelated measure that was up for a vote on Tuesday afternoon.
If passed, it would have allowed for consideration and likely passage of the NORRA Act and SAVE Act last week.
Instead, it was an embarrassing blow to House GOP leaders on a normally sleepy procedural vote.
The standoff comes as the House is also trying to reckon with the Senate’s reconciliation framework, which will allow Republicans to begin working on policy and monetary changes that will become part of a massive bill advancing Trump’s agenda on defense, energy, the border, and taxes.
Republican leaders are poised to move forward with that legislation as planned – despite concerns from fiscal hawks about discrepancies between the Senate and House’s views on the issue.