‘Think about resigning’: Chip Roy slams proxy voting, calling it ‘unconstitutional’

“It’s our job. It’s our obligation” Roy said. “And if you can’t do it, think about not running again, think about resigning.”

“How many things have you sacrificed?” he asked. “When I miss the baseball game, when I miss school, when I miss the event, I’m doing it for [my son]. I’m doing it for my daughter. I’m doing it for my wife.”

Roy reportedly missed his father’s birthday in November for a vote.

“Still in DC, ready to debate & vote against the⁦⁩ @HouseDemocrats #BuildBackBS socialist spending spree. I wish I was in Tx with my Pop to visit after surgery on his 79th birthday, but Proxy Voting is BS — & he said ‘Son, stay there & fight those bastards.’ #TakeBackAmerica,” he wrote in a tweet.

Roy suggested his colleagues may have an over-inflated sense of self-importance, saying, “What we do here is important, but I think sometimes we have a heightened sense of our own importance.”

“I ain’t that important,” he added. “At the end of the day, our job is what’s important.”

The congressman acknowledged technology has made great advancements but maintained proxy voting is “unconstitutional.”

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“It is my perspective that it is in fact unconstitutional for us to engage in proxy voting. I think that the Constitution is pretty clear on it,” he told his colleagues. “It clearly requires a member of Congress to be actually present in the House or the Senate chamber.”

“I understand technology has changed. Well, then let’s amend the constitution. Let’s debate about it,” he added.

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy also delivered remarks to the committee, telling them, “Anecdotally, members have used proxy voting as a means to attend fundraisers, conventions, ribbon cuttings, bill signings, personal events, and more — both inside and outside D.C.”

“We have seen days where 50, 100, and even more than 150 members have elected to vote by proxy on a measure — for no other reason than accommodating their own schedule,” he added.

“Put differently, Mr. Chairman: you have given members an inch, and they have taken the proverbial mile,” he said, adding that “enough is enough.”

In September, the two congressmen joined forces to petition the Supreme Court to “perform its duty and end house proxy voting.”

“Proxy voting makes a mockery of this body’s purpose, allowing Members to evade their responsibility and avoid accountability,” Roy said in a press release. “Americans entrust their elected member, and that member alone, the duty to decide votes on their behalf. Therefore, this practice permits elected officials to delegate away something that is simply non-delegable.”

Roy also criticized what he considered abuse of proxy voting in the summer of 2021.

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“‘Is it still a requirement that you have to make a case that it is a virus or COVID-related reason for voting by proxy?’ Rep. Roy calls attention to the ongoing abuse of unconstitutional proxy voting,” his press office tweeted.