They are falling all over themselves to block parents with newborns from voting remotely.

We were supposed to be voting on important issues in Congress this week. Instead, the Republicans opted for some mental gymnastics to make it more difficult for new parents in Congress to represent their constituents.

First, Rep. Brittany Petterson, who just gave birth to her second son, proposed legislation that would allow new parents in the House to be able to vote remotely, through a proxy, for up to 12 weeks. Common sense: it's good for families, it's good for constituents, and it's good for Congress to have diverse perspectives — including those of young families.

But, the so-called "party of family values" and the far-right "Freedom Caucus" didn't like this idea (very hypocritical, but we'll get to that momentarily). Speaker Johnson's team inserted language into the rules package to slam the door shut on the discussion on proxy voting.

Then, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida and parent to a toddler, opted to move forward with a discharge petition to force a vote. Discharge petitions are rarely successful, but she collected the 218 signatures – from Democrats and some Republicans – required to force a vote.

Next, in an unprecedented action, Republicans on the House Rules Committee acted to outright kill the discharge petition that was already signed by a majority of members. The opposition to the procedural measure was falling all over themselves to prevent parents of newborns from voting remotely. They suggested it was a disastrous move.

"So disastrous" during the COVID-19 Pandemic, that 162 Republicans voted by proxy.

"So disastrous" that the current Speaker of the House voted by proxy 39 times.

"So disastrous" because people need to "show up to work," as if voting by proxy to represent your constituents is any less effective.

But it's not a problem that Donald Trump conducts most of his business from a golf course in Mar-a-Lago; nor is it a problem that the FBI director, Kash Patel, is asking to work remotely from Las Vegas; and certainly not an issue that Congresspersons on the Rules Committee used proxy voting to go to a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) convention?

Get real.

The bottom line is that Republicans love to talk about family values, but when given the chance to actually support families, they turn their backs. So now, instead of accomplishing anything this week, they canceled all votes. Great work, GOP.

This is just one example of the party of "family values" having zero regard for working families — and I'm never going to let that slide.

More soon,

Jim