New Civil War between MAGA darlings erupts and Trump is in the middle

Florida Republican Anna Paulina Luna is getting ripped by her 'disgusted' MAGA female colleague after she forced a measure to allow lawmakers to vote remotely when having kids.

Luna, 35, had a son in 2023 and has been pushing the bill alongside Colorado Democrat Brittany Pettersen, who had a baby in late January.

The Florida Republican has railed against GOP leadership for not allowing lawmakers enough time to recover after giving birth.

'Leadership said they will not consider at all allowing female members to vote when recovering from child birth. Period. Not now. Not ever. This is wrong,' she wrote on X Tuesday. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has been adamantly against Luna's effort, noting how the measure is unconstitutional and distorts the intended functions of Congress.

His fighting the measure helping new parents is a bad look, though, and the speaker has sought to clear the record by posting on X that he is 'actively working on every possible accommodation to make Congressional service simpler for young mothers.'

Bucking the speaker, Luna took the extraordinary method of using a discharge petition to force a vote on her bill. She circumvented Johnson by garnering bipartisan support on a petition that can get voted on, regardless of what the speaker says, if a majority of members sign on.

The Speaker did not take kindly to Luna going around him, so he used the House Rules Committee to craft a rule to nix the vote on the Floridian's proxy vote bill. But that maneuver burned him after the vote to crush Luna's legislation went up in flames after the parenting bill gained bipartisan support.

The speaker was forced to shelve his planned votes for the remainder of the week as all the remaining work was tied to that poxy voting measure that was defeated. 

Johnson's legislative package failing meant that bills that could help Trump with his administration's legal cases will have to wait.

'President Trump’s agenda is now stalled for the week,' Johnson said Wednesday.  

MAGA allies like Marjorie Taylor Greene have skewered Luna's bid for halting a week's worth of work.

'I can't believe that Congress was hijacked this week over Luna's resolution to allow members to skip work and vote from home,' Greene posted on X. 

'Votes were cancelled for the rest of the week after Luna and the Dems got their way,' another post from MTG read.

'The American people did not vote for any of this crap,' the Georgia Republican shot off in another post about it. 'I’m purely disgusted at all of this.'

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has opposed most of Johnson's funding efforts even sided with the speaker on the proxy vote dilemma, writing on X 'proxy voting is unconstitutional.'

'It's foolish to delay our agenda for an entire week while we control Congress and the presidency!' Massie added. 

However, the Floridian says she is with the GOP and Trump, and the House Republican leadership should not have wrapped up the week on Tuesday. 

'I am 100 percent supportive of Trump's agenda,' she posted on X to combat her critics. 'It is disingenuous to lie about me or the others Speaker Johnson.'

'Steve Scalise & Speaker Johnson did not have to send us home,' she said. 

Luna, in another statement Wednesday afternoon, alleged there is 'widespread misinformation surrounding her discharge petition' and that there are 'political games' being played.'

Luna and Pettersen's bill would enable lawmakers who have children to vote by proxy for up to 12 weeks, or just under three months. 

'When I was pregnant, I couldn't fly towards the end of my due date because it was unsafe for Sam and you're unable to board a plane,' the Democrat Pettersen has said. 'And I was unable to have my vote represented here.'

Luna says GOP leadership tried to make her look bad because the vote to kill her resolution was tied to many conservative objectives like judicial reform that the Trump administration has been looking forward to. 

'At the last minute, leadership chose to tie my discharge petition to a rules package that would permanently paint me and the members supporting it as being anti-election integrity,' Luna wrote on X. 

After Johnson's plan failed on Tuesday he was quick to  point out to reporters how Luna and eight GOP lawmakers sided with Democrats to oppose him.

'A handful of Republicans joined with all the Democrats to take down a rule,' Johnson said trying to play off the failed effort to block Luna's bill. 

'That's rarely done. It's very unfortunate in this case, 96 percent of Republicans voted against proxy voting because they believe it's unconstitutional and they agree it would open a Pandora's Box.'

In addition to Luna Reps. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., and Max Miller, R-Ohio, also voted for the effort. 

'I cannot imagine a mother, who has spent 9 months going through the wringer, being told that you can't be with your infant only because you are one of 435 people,' said Miller, 36, who had a kid last year. 

Johnson has said that he will regroup and push again to block Luna's effort.