The Republican Party, at times, seems incapable of taking full advantage of its majority control of Congress to pass its agenda, as members instead routinely get bogged down and distracted by internal disagreements and infighting.

On Monday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) announced that she had resigned her membership with the conservative House Freedom Caucus following a bitter dispute with some group members over the issue of proxy voting in the House for new parents, Fox News reported.

Luna had teamed up with Democrats on a procedural move to alter House rules and allow proxy voting for members who've just had a baby, but that move was met with fierce resistance by many Republicans, including the GOP's leadership team, and the fight now threatens to hold up progress on legislation to support President Donald Trump's agenda.

Luna's resignation letter

In a Monday letter to her House Freedom Caucus colleagues, Rep. Luna wrote, "I have consistently supported each of you, even in moments of disagreement, honoring the mutual respect that has guided our caucus. That respect, however, was shattered last week."

"Acting within the House conference rules -- rules we all agreed to -- I sought to bring a vote to the floor on a measure that would allow new mothers in Congress (fewer than 14 in our nation's history) and fathers, if they choose, to vote by proxy," she continued. "This was a modest, family-centered proposal. Yet, a small group among us threatened the Speaker, vowing to halt floor proceedings indefinitely -- regardless of the legislation at stake, including President Trump's agenda -- unless he altered the rules to block my discharge petition."

Luna laid out some of the details of the GOP opposition against her discharge petition, which allows members to bypass leadership and bring a measure to the floor if it garners majority support, that she insisted is a "pro-life, pro-family initiative" to allow members who are new parents to vote by proxy for up to 12 weeks around a birth.

The congresswoman thanked HFC Chairman Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) for his "gentlemanly approach" to her measure and made it clear that she still considered many members of the group to be friends and allies, but said, "With a heavy heart, I am resigning from the Freedom Caucus."

"I cannot remain part of a caucus where a select few operate outside its guidelines, misuse its name, broker backroom deals that undermine its core values and where the lines of compromise and transaction are blurred, disparage me to the press, and encourage misrepresentation of me to the American people," Luna added.

Luna says Speaker Johnson "being held hostage" by some HFC members

Monday evening, according to CNN, Rep. Luna was asked about her resignation from the House Freedom Caucus and the internal opposition she faced from some members of the group and House Republican leadership to her bipartisan measure with Democrats to alter the chamber's rules and allow proxy voting for members who are new parents.

"The speaker is being held hostage," Luna said of some of her former HFC colleagues. "You had members -- a small group of the Freedom Caucus, not all of them, but a small group -- that threatened to shut down the House floor regardless of what agenda was being placed, whether it was the president’s or not, and that’s not right."

"There are some great people that are still members of the Freedom Caucus, but there’s a small faction that’s disingenuous and I’m not going to play that game," she added.

House GOP leadership push back against Luna

House Republicans, by and large, stand generally opposed to the idea of proxy voting -- even though many took advantage of it when it was a thing under Democratic leadership during the pandemic -- and argue that allowing members to vote on behalf of others is not authorized by the Constitution and, if allowed for new parents, would inevitably end up being expanded to include other members for other reasons.

As such, an all-out effort has been launched by House GOP leadership to kill Rep. Luna's discharge petition, according to The Hill, by tying it to a separate procedural move in which other top priority legislation, including to limit the authority of "rogue" federal judges and increased election integrity, would be halted if Luna's measure is passed.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) told reporters that Luna was compelled to "team up with mostly Democrats, 90 percent Democrats, who are in the minority," to find support for her discharge petition, and added, "We’re in the majority on the Republican side, and want to be able to move the Republican agenda. And you know, I’d rather not move Pelosi policies over the majority."