Speaker Mike Johnson's measure to block the introduction of a bill allowing proxy voting failed as nine Republicans voted with Democrats.

House Speaker Mike Johnson endured a decisive defeat Tuesday after he staged an unusually aggressive effort to squash a proposal for new parents in Congress to able to vote by proxy, rather than in person,

The Republican speaker, who has mostly wielded power by relying on the threat of retribution from President Trump, has chosen an institutional fight it’s not clear he can win.