House effort to allow remote votes for new parents survives, in major defeat for Johnson

Washington — The House on Tuesday defeated an effort that would have effectively killed a push to allow new parents to vote remotely around the birth of their child, an embarrassing loss for House Speaker Mike Johnson. 

Nine Republicans joined all Democrats during a procedural vote to help sink it. 

The fight over whether to allow remote voting for new moms and dads who serve in Congress came to a head this week with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, leaving the conservative House Freedom Caucus as her colleagues plotted against the bipartisan measure.