Representative Brittany Pettersen was elected to serve the people of Colorado’s third Congressional District and she has gone the extra mile to do so — literally. She flew from Colorado to Washington, D.C. with her 4-week-old infant in order to vote on a critical budget bill on Feb. 25.
“Congress makes no accommodations for new parents," she wrote on her website on Jan. 27, "so while I’m recovering and taking care of my newborn at this critical time, it’s incredibly unfair that my constituents will not have a voice in Congress until I am physically able to return to Washington."
Between Jan. 13 (the last day her doctor cleared her to fly home) and Feb. 25, Petterson was unable to cast a vote. She has been pushing for Congress to reinstate proxy (remote) voting for new parents.
Congress introduced proxy voting as a way to keep its work moving forward during the pandemic, but discontinued the option in 2022. Proxy voting was helpful not only for new parents but also for Congressional leaders who were caring for aging parents, recovering from cancer ... or even simply experiencing a flight delay.
Pettersen and Anna Paulina Luna, a Congressional Representative from Florida, are working together to shore up bipartisan support to allow new mothers to vote remotely for six weeks while they recover from birth.
In the meantime, Pettersen was required to be present to vote. So though she is still physically healing from childbirth, Pettersen flew in and stepped up to the podium to address Congress while holding a swaddled Sam.
She said, "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today with my newborn, Sam, who's just 4 weeks old. Unfortunately, I wasn't given the opportunity to vote remotely after giving birth. But I wasn't going to let that stop me from being here to represent my constituents.
At one point, Sam let out a tiny little yelp and Pettersen, who sounded slightly out of breath, calmly said, "I agree, Sam."
Pettersen posted a video of the speech on her Instagram, and in the caption, she wrote, "Nobody fights harder than a mom."
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