Colorado Rep. Brittany Pettersen Flew To DC With Her Newborn To Vote On The Budget Blueprint
The vote was going to be close, but parents on leave can’t vote remotely.
Colorado Rep. Brittany Pettersen made it in time to cast a “no” vote against the House Republicans’ budget plan this week. Though the end result did not go the way Pettersen hoped — the plan passed 217 to 215 — Pettersen is still glad she went, especially to make such a valid and poignant point for her constituents.
On the House floor, Pettersen spoke to her constituents.
“I rise today with my newborn Sam, who's just four 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 and vote no on this disastrous Republican budget proposal,” she said before sharing her opinion on the budget blueprint.
Pettersen said, despite the outcome, her trip back to D.C. wasn’t in vain.
“I wasn't going to sit back and not vote for anything where I could potentially be the difference,” the Jefferson County Democrat told Colorado Public Radio after the vote, holding her sleeping four-week-old, Sam, in her arms.
“I knew this was going to be very close. I'm very disappointed that we didn't ultimately kill it, but our power is in the numbers that we have in the House for Democrats.”
“They had to figure out if they were going to have the votes or not,” she said. “Now they have to deal with the details of this disastrous proposal that would harm so many people in their districts. And so the fight is not over.”
Pettersen, who is on maternity leave, said traveling with just her and the baby was no easy feat and not having her husband to help was an extra point of exhaustion. Any solo traveling parents would agree!
“Nothing is easy when you're traveling with a newborn, and doing it alone was challenging,” she said. “Then just being here, because he sleeps one or two hours here and there, so I am exhausted.”
She did reconcile that Sam had been an easygoing baby so far, and she’s thankful for her friends in Congress who helped with her trip from meeting her at the gate to helping with luggage and all the baby gear to bringing food to her and Sam.
“I said I’m going to have to set up some ‘come-and-cuddle-the-baby-so-that-I-can-take-a-shower’ shifts,” she joked.
Pettersen doesn’t know if she’ll return to the Capitol soon. She plans to play that by ear, depending on critical votes. One critical vote she would never miss is her own bipartisan bill, which would allow proxy voting for new parents.
She said the change is about allowing her to be a new mom and do her job. Congresswomen who become mothers should not “be forced to come back to Washington and choose between your newborn and representing your constituents.”
Please, more state representatives like Pettersen!
