The speaker tried to use an unprecedented parliamentary maneuver to deny a bipartisan majority the chance to hold a vote on their proposal to allow new parents to vote remotely in the House.

House Speaker Mike Johnson suffered a decisive defeat after he tried and failed to squash a proposal for new parents in Congress to able to vote by proxy, rather than in person, as they care for newborns.

A bitter intraparty dispute came to a head Tuesday as Republican members of the House Rules Committee, with the support of Speaker Mike Johnson, worked to shut down an effort to allow proxy voting for new parents in the House.