The final result wasn’t what Democrats had hoped, but Rep. Brittany Pettersen was glad she made it in time to cast a “no” vote against the House Republican’s budget blueprint Tuesday night. The resolution, which passed 217 to 215, is a key opening step to passing President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
“I wasn't going to sit back and not vote for anything where I could potentially be the difference,” the Jefferson County Democrat said 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.”
Pettersen joined all of Colorado’s House Democrats in voting against the resolution, while all the state’s Republicans voted for it.
The way things currently stand in the House, if there are no absences, Speaker Mike Johnson can only lose one vote. And he did just that on Tuesday. GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the lone Republican to vote against the budget blueprint, saying it would add to the deficit and the debt. Johnson managed to flip the few remaining holdouts.
Still, Pettersen said, despite the outcome, her trip back to D.C. wasn’t for naught.
“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 at her home in Jefferson County, said it was difficult making the trip with just her and the baby and not having her husband to help. “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.”
But, she said, so far Sam has been an easy going baby, and her friends in Congress helped fill the gap — meeting her at the gate, helping with luggage and all the baby gear, and bringing food to her place. “I said I’m going to have to set up some ‘come-and-cuddle-the-baby-so-that-I-can-take-a-shower’ shifts.”
The baby was quite the draw. Even Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi stopped to coo over Sam.
Pettersen doesn’t know if she’ll come back to the Capitol again in the near future. She said she plans to play that by ear, depending on when critical votes arise.
One thing she does hope comes up sooner rather than later is a vote on her bipartisan bill that would allow proxy voting for new parents.
For now, she and Sam are headed back home to Colorado.
