Pelosi (D-Calif.) declared on Monday that she would not ask members to be physically present for votes until mid-May at the earliest, extending the order she established at the beginning of the 117th Congress in January 2021. Pelosi noted a Monday letter from House Sergeant-at-Arms William J. Walker declaring that the public health emergency “remains in effect.”
“I am hereby extending the ‘covered period’ designated on January 4, 2021 … until May 14, 2022,” Pelosi announced in a “Dear Colleague” letter. Rather than being present on the floor, members can continue to submit their votes on legislation and other matters through designated colleagues. By contrast, the Senate has directed in-person votes during the pandemic.
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Members of the House on both sides of the aisle have repeatedly taken advantage of proxy voting since it was presented in May 2020 to handle other business while serving in Congress. In one example, Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) asked to vote by proxy to file paperwork to run for mayor of Los Angeles, according to the LA Times. Bass submitted her intent to vote by proxy two days before.
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who has frequently voted by proxy, used the practice to conduct a video interview in his car with the Philadelphia Inquirer, according to the same outlet. “We have a long vote series today, so I got to step out of the Capitol and I’m excited about having this conversation,” he announced in the interview.
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Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) reportedly submitted a proxy vote in order to return to his home state for a Senate campaign event. Even House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) voted via proxy earlier this year, on the same day she appeared with former President Donald Trump for a fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. Now, there are 43 active letters of intention to use proxy voting in the House. The oldest one was submitted by Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ) on December 2 of last year.
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) criticized the extension Tuesday, describing it as the “show-up-if-convenient policy,” in an announcement to The Federalist. “This has nothing to do with science, but everything to do with Democrats’ insatiable obsession with control,” he stated.
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McCarthy challenged the order as unconstitutional soon after it took effect, taking the matter all the way to the Supreme Court, which rejected his challenge in January. Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) repeated the minority leader’s criticism on Twitter, stating Democrats were “abusing” the practice.
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