Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) announced her departure Monday from the conservative House Freedom Caucus after disagreements within the group over her proxy voting bill.
After a contentious few weeks in the Freedom Caucus, the right flank of the House Republican conference, over her proxy voting bill, Luna decided to leave the caucus because of how those who disagreed with her handled the issue, according to a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“With a heavy heart, I am resigning from the Freedom Caucus,” Luna wrote in a letter sent on Monday.
“I cannot remain part of a caucus where a select few operate outside its guidelines, misuse its name, broker backroom deals that undermine its core values and where the lines of compromise and transaction are blurred, disparage me to the press, and encourage misrepresentation of me to the American people,” she continued.
Luna has been battling to amend House rules to codify proxy voting for new parents, introducing a bill that would allow members to designate another member as a proxy beginning on the date of the birth and terminating 12 weeks after. If a member is told by a healthcare provider that there is a danger of complications or inability to travel safely, that member can vote by proxy for 12 weeks after the initial designation.
Along with her letter of resignation to HFC, Luna also sent a letter to the entire House GOP outlining her reasoning behind the rule change she is pushing for and why she left HFC.
Luna can force a vote on the bill after receiving 218 votes on her discharge petition, allowing her to force the speaker to call a vote on the bill.
Many Freedom Caucus members, along with House leadership, have been pursuing every option to kill Luna’s bill before it hits the floor. Last week, members of her former caucus held up a procedural rule vote on unrelated legislation over the issue.
This has not been the first disagreement resulting from a fight within the caucus that has led to a member leaving or being forced out.
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Randy Weber (R-TX) and former Reps. Ken Buck and Warren Davidson were all booted from the caucus for various reasons over the last two years. Rey. Troy Nehls (R-TX) was the last member to resign after a contentious vote to oust Davidson over his endorsement against the caucus chairman at the time, former Rep. Bob Good.
The HFC was formed in 2015 as a group of members who were not happy with the way Washington was run and had similar ideas on policy and how the institution should be run. These members were given the boot for reasons of diverging from the caucus on certain beliefs or lack of attendance.
Luna criticized members of the caucus for acting in the exact way they often push back as they seek ways to ensure the bill does not come up for a vote.
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“This tactic was not just a betrayal of trust; it was a descent into the very behavior we have long condemned — a practice that we as a group, have repeatedly criticized leadership for allowing,” she wrote. “To those involved, I ask: Why? Why abandon the principles we’ve championed and resort to such conduct?”
Rachel Schilke contributed to this report.
Anna Paulina Luna House Freedom Caucus resignation letter by web-producers
