U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen announced the birth of her second child on Monday, using the occasion on Congress to allow members who have just become new parents to vote by proxy rather than having to show up in person in Washington, D.C.
The Lakewood Democrat, who represents Colorado’s 7th Congressional District, at the beginning of this session that would permit remote voting for mothers and fathers with newborns. But in a statement Monday, she said Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson “has still refused to move forward” with her bill.
“Congress makes no accommodations for new parents, so while I’m recovering and taking care of my newborn at this critical time, it’s incredibly unfair that my constituents will not have a voice in Congress until I am physically able to return to Washington,” she said in the statement. “No member should have to choose between caring for their newborn and representing their constituents.”
Pettersen gave birth to her second son, Samuel, in Colorado on Saturday. She is married to political consultant Ian Silverii.
The couple’s first son, Davis, was born almost exactly five years ago, while Pettersen served as a Colorado state senator. She became the first state senator in Colorado to give birth while in office and had to classify the birth as a chronic illness in order to continue receiving pay as a state legislator while on leave, she said Monday; the state legislature offering lawmakers paid parental leave in 2022.
Pettersen’s stance on proxy voting in Congress as a new parent is not a strictly partisan one. It follows a similar effort a year ago by Republican U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, who introduced a resolution to allow proxy voting for new mothers in Congress.
Pettersen’s resolution also includes proxy voting for a member whose spouse has given birth.
In a earlier this month, the newspaper reported that Johnson and House Republican leaders opposed Luna’s resolution, fearing “it was unconstitutional and would create a slippery slope for more exceptions.”
