Rep. Brittany Pettersen brings infant son to GOP budget vote after being denied the right to vote remotely
House Republicans sought to prevent Rep. Brittany Pettersen from voting while she was on maternity leave. So, four weeks postpartum with her infant son in tow, she traveled solo to Washington, D.C., to vote against the GOP budget resolution.
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when remote work increased, the Democrat-controlled House voted to allow representatives to vote by proxy. However, Republican and former Rep. Kevin McCarthy vehemently opposed the allowance. Once Republicans won the narrow majority, McCarthy quickly revoked the right to vote by proxy. The refusal to allow proxy voting in any situation has led to many female representatives losing their right to vote on legislation while on maternity leave. It should be common sense to make exceptions for women on maternity leave. This isn’t an issue of representatives abusing voters by proxy while not showing up for work. It’s mothers asking for their right to make their voices heard while they recover and prioritize their infant child in the first weeks after labor. Yet, House Republicans continue discriminating against mothers by refusing to grant representatives on maternity leave the right to vote by proxy.
However, when Pettersen was told she couldn’t vote by proxy on the GOP’s budget resolution, which proposed significant cuts to social programs to fund tax cuts for billionaires, she refused to let that stop her from voting.
Rep. Pettersen votes ‘no’ with infant son in her arms
In a powerful display of womanhood and motherhood, Pettersen voted against the GOP’s budget resolution, taking to the House floor with her infant son in her arms. The night before the vote, Pettersen took to X to explain her situation, noting that Republican Leadership had denied her the right to vote remotely. She wrote, “But that’s not stopping us from showing up to vote NO on this disastrous budget proposal.” She paired the caption with a selfie of her and her son, Sam, outside the U.S. Capitol.
Pettersen was on maternity leave in her home state of Colorado when she was denied the right to vote remotely on the budget resolution. Her husband could not make the trip with her, so she had to travel to Washington alone with an infant who only sleeps one or two hours at a time, leaving her exhausted. She admitted, “Nothing is easy when you’re traveling with a newborn, and doing it alone was challenging. Then just being here, because he sleeps one or two hours here and there, so I am exhausted.” Fortunately, she had friends in Congress who met her at the gate and tried to help with luggage, food, and taking shifts watching the baby so she could shower.
Ultimately, she and Sam made it onto the House floor, where she had this message for Trump: “nobody fights harder than a mom.” It was quite fitting that Sam made it to the vote, as Pettersen used her time on the floor to speak for America’s mothers, children, and families. She pointed out that Trump had promised to “lower prices” as President but instead was now proposing ripping away “health care and food for seniors, veterans, kids, and families.” Pettersen concluded, “How can anyone show their face in their district after voting ‘yes’ for this?” On X, she wrote, “I’ll never back down when it comes to our kids.”
Pettersen is hopeful that the House will soon vote on a bipartisan resolution she introduced to allow House members on parental leave to vote by proxy. However, it’s difficult to predict if Republicans will vote “yes” on it. Based on the hundreds of horrifically disgusting comments Republicans left on the video and photos of Pettersen with her son, it seems unlikely. Despite constantly insisting that they are the party of family values and that they love babies, Republicans never miss a chance to demonstrate how much they dislike and don’t support mothers. They’re just the party that tells women to have babies and then tells them they’re on their own once the child is born. Fortunately, America has real champions of motherhood, like Pettersen, who are voting for a better future for their children and refuse to accept Republicans’ belief that new mothers shouldn’t be allowed to vote on House issues.
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