Dads Caucus

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressional Dads Caucus Chairman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) issued the following statement in response to Speaker Mike Johnson’s attempt to block a bipartisan resolution that would allow new parents in Congress to vote by proxy for up to 12 weeks after the birth of a child.

“Speaker Johnson has used proxy voting himself, so the hypocrisy here is staggering,” said Dads Caucus Chairman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34). “This bipartisan resolution is a simple, commonsense fix to remove a major barrier for new parents in Congress. Johnson can try his dirty tricks, but a majority of the House—including the Dads Caucus and 12 Republicans—supports it. If these 12 Republicans keep standing strong for young parents, they'll help make Congress more family-friendly—and Speaker Johnson will fail.”

A total of 218 Members of Congress—including 41 Dads Caucus members—signed a discharge petition to force a vote on the resolution, bypassing House Speaker Mike Johnson after he refused to include the measure in the House rules package for the new Congress and publicly opposed it. Now Speaker Johnson is trying to change the rules to block it. He’s considering raising the threshold for a discharge petition from a simple majority to a two-thirds supermajority and applying that change retroactively. It would be the most significant change to the discharge petition process in decades—just to stop a commonsense bill that supports new and expectant parents in Congress.

The bipartisan resolution, introduced by Reps. Brittany Pettersen (CO-07), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), and Mike Lawler (NY-17), ensures that Members can represent their constituents while caring for their families. It also allows pregnant Members to vote by proxy if a medical condition prevents them from traveling.

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