Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s daughter, Evita Duffy-Alfonso, laid into the effort for proxy voting led by Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna after the House tanked a procedural rule on Tuesday.
“When my baby sister was born with two holes in her heart and needed a very risky surgery, my father, @SecDuffy, knew he needed to be at home with his newborn daughter, my mother, and my eight siblings,” Duffy-Alfonso, 25, posted on the social platform X.
“So my dad resigned,” her post continued. “What he did not do was demand an unconstitutional exception that would allow him to vote remotely. He viewed his job in Congress as a responsibility and a privilege, not an entitlement.”
Duffy-Alfonso was highlighting Luna’s ongoing battle for proxy voting for new parents in the House.
Luna led nine other Republican lawmakers against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), tanking a procedural vote on a measure that they say is anti-family. The battle halted work in the lower chamber until next week and delivered a blow to the Speaker.
The Florida Republican was seeking to force a vote through a discharge petition on proxy voting after she struggled to be a lawmaker and new mother. She’s teamed up with Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen (Colo.), who also recently had a baby, to allow new parents in the House the ability to vote on matters via a proxy.
The two lawmakers have been questioning the GOP resistance to the measure, noting the party was going against its traditional family-oriented values.
Luna made a privileged motion to bring a vote on the resolution. GOP leaders could again attempt to kill the effort, but Johnson hinted there may be a possibility. The Speaker has argued proxy voting is unconstitutional and it would lead to a “slippery slope” of expanding voting access.
Duffy-Alfonso criticized the effort in her post, suggesting the impacted members of Congress should take a step back from working in Washington.
“If you are unable to fulfill the duties required of a member of Congress because you are a parent of a small child, feel free to resign,” she said in her post. “Many have before.”
Duffy served in Congress for the state of Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019, until he stepped down to care for his daughter.
The Hill has reached out to Luna’s office for comment.
