A majority of House members backed changing the rules to allow new parents to vote remotely. But in a Congress dominated by far-right Republicans, parental leave was a bridge too far.
Parental leave is hardly a cutting-edge subject in the year 2025.
The 20 largest employers in the United States have for years offered paid parental leave to at least some of their workers. During his 2018 State of the Union address, President Trump endorsed paid family leave as a way to support working families.
But Congress, which is exempt from labor and anti-discrimination laws, has long held itself apart from the way the rest of the country operates. And the failure this week of a bipartisan effort to update House rules to allow new parents to vote remotely after the birth of a child underscored how, with Republicans in control of both chambers, a 1950s mentality can still dominate the institution at times.
The fight over the measure also highlighted how much further to the right House Republicans are than much of mainstream culture in America.
A majority of the House — every Democrat and a dozen Republicans — supported changing the rules to bring the chamber into the 21st century by allowing new parents to take a 12-week leave during which they could designate a colleague to cast votes on their behalf. But in the end, the G.O.P. backing evaporated and the House voted to kill the measure on Tuesday, with all but one Republican in favor and all Democrats opposed.
It came after Speaker Mike Johnson went to extraordinary lengths to shut down the proposal, freezing the floor for a week in an effort to make sure it would never receive a vote.