After resolving a dispute over voting procedures, House Republicans are now expected to advance two bills championed by President Donald Trump this week. The impasse centered around Representative Anna Paulina Luna’s push for accommodations allowing new parents in Congress to vote remotely.
The House will consider the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, introduced by Representative Chip Roy, which mandates proof of citizenship during voter registration, and the No Rogue Rulings Act (NORRA), authored by Representative Darrell Issa. NORRA aims to restrict the ability of district court judges to issue nationwide injunctions against policies supported by the Trump administration.
These votes had been anticipated last week but were delayed due to procedural disagreements that temporarily halted legislative progress.
“Speaker Johnson and I have reached an agreement to reinstate a practice known as live/dead pairing, a tradition dating back to the 1800s. This system will be available for members unable to vote due to circumstances like new parenthood, bereavement, or emergencies,” Luna stated on social media Sunday evening.
Luna expressed optimism about the outcome, stating, “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.”
According to Johnson’s office, a consensus was reached with Luna on Sunday afternoon. This agreement revives an established custom wherein an absent member’s vote—for instance, that of a new mother—is effectively neutralized by “pairing” it with the opposing vote. While neither vote is officially counted, both positions are recorded in the Congressional Record.
The compromise also includes measures to improve accessibility for young mothers within the Capitol building itself.
Last Tuesday, a small group of Republican representatives disrupted leadership’s attempt to prevent Luna from forcing a vote on her bill, which would have permitted new parents to vote remotely for twelve weeks surrounding their child’s birth. Luna had prepared to leverage a discharge petition—a mechanism allowing lawmakers to compel consideration of bills if they secure support from the majority of the House—to achieve this.
Speaker Johnson, who maintains that proxy voting is unconstitutional, attempted to preempt such petitions by attaching related language to another measure on Tuesday’s agenda. Had it succeeded, this maneuver would have likely cleared a path for consideration and passage of both the NORRA Act and SAVE Act last week.
Instead, the situation resulted in an unexpected setback for House Republican leadership.
Simultaneously, the House is navigating the complexities of the Senate’s reconciliation framework—a process that will enable Republicans to pursue policy and budgetary changes integrated into a larger bill designed to advance Trump’s agenda concerning national defense, energy policies, border security, and tax reforms. Despite reservations from conservative members regarding discrepancies between the approaches taken by the House and Senate, Republican leaders intend to proceed with this legislation as planned.
Key Points:
- Two bills—the SAVE Act and NORRA Act—are expected to be voted on this week.
- A dispute over proxy voting for new parents led to a temporary standstill in the House.
- An agreement has been reached to reinstate “live/dead pairing,” an older congressional practice.
- The reconciliation framework will allow Republicans to pursue policy changes related to defense, energy, border security and taxes.
