House lawmakers could vote for up to 10 absent lawmakers under a new resolution scheduled for a Friday morning vote.
The House Rules Committee introduced a resolution that would make historic changes to the way the House has conducted business.
It would permit remote committee activity and remote committee votes to advance legislation, and it would allow “remote voting through technology” once House officials determine the technology to vote online is secure.
Democrats are likely to pass the legislation over the objections of Republicans and in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has prompted Speaker Nancy Pelosi to shutter the House for the past two months.
The resolution would permit “entirely virtual” committee proceedings, including virtual voting to advance legislation. It allows immediate proxy voting on the House floor. Lawmakers must send through the House clerk their exact voting instructions to be carried out by lawmakers who are present on the House floor. The clerk will list the lawmakers serving as proxies on a public website, according to the resolution.
The resolution would greenlight remote voting on House floor legislation, too. The speaker would be able to allow remote voting “during a pandemic” once House officials certify “that there is operable and secure technology for remote voting.”
According to a statement issued Wednesday morning by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, and House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, the resolution includes “several Republican ideas,” but no bipartisan agreement was reached on the rules change.
Republicans are opposed to the change, which would end a centuries-old requirement that lawmakers vote in person on the House floor. GOP lawmakers say the move diminishes the power of individual lawmakers and poses serious security risks.
Democrats say the change is necessary due to the health risks associated with having 430 lawmakers traveling to Washington, D.C., and gathering in the Capitol. The resolution indicates the rules change would only be in effect during the pandemic.
All lawmakers, however, have been summoned back to the House for a Friday vote on the resolution, as well as a $3 trillion economic aid package.
“Members on both sides of the aisle have urged we act to ensure the House can continue legislating during this pandemic,” Hoyer, of Maryland, McGovern, of Massachusetts, and Lofgren, of California, said in a statement. “Rather than moving forward with a Democratic proposal last month, we formed this task force to give bipartisan compromise another chance. While we could not come to an agreement, we have incorporated several Republican ideas into this resolution. We will now move forward on these temporary emergency procedures to ensure the House can continue fully working for the people during this public health and economic emergency. The time has come to act — further delay is not an option.”
The GOP-led Senate is not working remotely, and lawmakers returned to the Capitol last week. One committee is studying remote business, but there are no plans to implement any changes.
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, flat-out rejected the proposal. Republicans want the House to begin returning to work, beginning at the subcommittee level.
“As we have said from the start, any change to centuries-old rules of the House should only be done in a bipartisan way that achieves consensus,” McCarthy said. This proposal fails that critical test and would forever alter our democratic institution for the worse.”
