All five congresswomen who constitute the progressive “Squad” were absent from the House floor Friday as Democrats passed the country’s largest investment in clean energy ever.
Despite the progressive lawmakers’ vocal calls for sweeping climate change legislation, Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Cori Bush (D-MO) all submitted proxy voting letters allowing fellow Squad member Rep. Jamaal Bowman to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act on their behalf. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) voted on behalf of Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). The reconciliation bill, which passed in a 220-207 party-line vote, will allocate roughly $370 billion to green energy initiatives over the next decade.
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The group of young progressives has made the aggressive climate policy of the Green New Deal one of their core legislative priorities. Ocasio-Cortez notoriously staged a protest in then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office over climate action shortly after being elected to Congress.
Squad members decided to support the Inflation Reduction Act, which also included major tax and healthcare provisions, despite Democratic leadership agreeing to a pared-back version of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda with centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).
“Is it perfect? No. I oppose expansion of fossil fuel leasing and I am disappointed that key elements like taxing wealthy private equity speculators and capping insulin prices for private insurers were removed,” Omar said on Monday in a press release announcing her support for the legislation.
“But the bill is a massive step forward for Minnesotans, and I’m extremely proud of the role the Congressional Progressive Caucus played in pushing for the best deal possible in the face of conservative resistance,” she added.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the offices of Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Bush for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
The House floor was unusually empty Friday afternoon, despite the magnitude of the budget reconciliation bill. Democratic leadership called the vote in the middle of the August recess, and many members from both parties chose to vote by proxy instead of returning to Washington, D.C. There were 187 active proxy voting letters on Friday, according to the House clerk.
Proxy voting is a contentious issue among members, as it was introduced as a pandemic measure to accommodate lawmakers unable to appear in person. Republicans question the procedure’s constitutionality and have said it will be one of the first Democratic-backed rules to go if they retake the majority after the midterm elections; many of them have made use of it nonetheless.
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Members must sign that they are “unable to physically attend the proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency,” though members often use the tool for reasons unrelated to COVID-19.
The conservative Freedom Caucus tried to prevent the vote on the IRA from reaching a physical quorum by encouraging Republicans to vote by proxy, thus opening the grounds for a possible lawsuit in the future. The measure failed after not enough Republicans agreed to participate.
