'Even The President Supports This': Brittany Pettersen Rails Against Effort To Kill Proxy Voting For New Moms

6 days ago

During debate on the House floor, Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) spoke in support of a discharge resolution that would force a vote on allowing proxy voting for new parents in Congress.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to my colleague from Massachusetts for yielding your

00:05time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the rule that will kill our bipartisan efforts to

00:10allow parents who have welcomed a new child to vote remotely. I want to thank Representative Luna

00:15for her unwavering commitment to giving moms and dads a voice in Congress. A large majority of the

00:21members of the House support changing the way we do things here and make it more accessible to young

00:25families and more reflective of the American people. But Speaker Johnson pulled out all the

00:31stops to prevent us from moving forward. We followed the rules and filed a discharge petition.

00:37We got the 218 signatures necessary to bring it to a vote on the floor. But he went to historic lengths

00:44to try to stifle our voices, including blocking our resolution today before we even have the

00:49opportunity to vote for it. Even the president supports this and doesn't understand why it's

00:55so controversial, and neither does the rest of America. Let's be clear, the changes agreed

01:01upon by the Speaker are not a win for us. They do not address the challenges that we've worked

01:06so hard to overcome. And the Speaker turned his backs on moms and dads in Congress and working

01:11families across the country. Congress is stuck in doing things the way that we did hundreds

01:18of years ago, and it's time that we move it to the 21st century. And for all the people who

01:23have said that I should resign because I can't do my job, you are completely missing the point.

01:29I am absolutely capable of doing my job, but because I'm a woman and because I chose to

01:34have a baby, I have been prevented from doing so. I want to thank all of the people who have

01:40come on both sides of the aisle and supporting this effort. And I know that our fight is far

01:45from over and we're not going to back down. And to the people from across the country who have

01:49reached out, inspired to see somebody like them who is struggling to manage having a new baby,

01:55balancing work, and having a work environment that does not support their needs. So once again,

02:01I want to thank Representative Luna for being a champion, as well as Representative Jacobs and Lawler

02:07for all their work on this. We are going to, we won't stop until we finally get this done. And with that,

02:14actually before I'm done, I want to acknowledge Sam, who has now made four flights across the country

02:21to change hearts and minds and also highlight the need for reform here in Congress. I yield back.

02:28Gentlewoman Gio's back. Gentlewoman from North Carolina.

'Even The President Supports This': Brittany Pettersen Rails Against Effort To Kill Proxy Voting For New Moms

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