In an interview with Fox News Digital, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said, "As a woman and as a mom," she does not support proxy voting exceptions for new mothers in Congress, a hotly debated topic that brought the House to a grinding halt this week.
A bill sponsored by conservative firebrand Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo., which would let new parents vote by proxy for 12 weeks while caring for their newborns, appears to have split the GOP.
While President Donald Trump has said he supports proxy voting for new parents in Congress, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has said he believes proxy voting is "unconstitutional."
With 218 lawmakers backing the move, it has enough support to force a vote.
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After Democrats and nine Republicans blocked an effort to sideline the issue, prompting Johnson to call the House into recess for the rest of the week, Mace said she is an "absolute no" on the question.
"I'm an absolute no on any and all proxy voting. It's wrong," Mace told Fox News Digital.
"We have a job. We have a constitutional duty to show up here and work, and we should."
Asked whether any exceptions should be made for new mothers and fathers in Congress, Mace answered, "Nope, none, zero."
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"As a woman and as a mom, I want to make it on my own merit," she added. "I don't want to be given an exception for anything. I want to be able to make here like any man would."
Addressing other hot questions about exceptions for women, Mace also shared that she strongly supports Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's moves on standards.
"Doing it based on merit and making the standards be the same, I think that's good for our country. It's good for those who are willing to risk their lives, put their lives on the line for their fellow countrymen," she said.
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"I love what Pete Hegseth is doing," she added. "I think he's doing a remarkable job, and he's bringing so much transparency to DOD and the Pentagon. And where they failed, then he is trying to pick up the pieces and put it back together, including how men and women are treated in uniform and how we are combat-ready."
Despite changes to standards, Mace predicted a "major uptick with recruitment" in all military branches under Trump and Hegseth's leadership, saying, "I think we've got great things to come. Our enemies should be scared."
