Speaker Nancy Pelosi said there are no plans to enact remote voting for House members anytime soon.
In a conference call with reporters on Monday, Pelosi said the House will return sometime in the coming weeks to consider a new economic relief package to help deal with the coronavirus and that lawmakers will vote in person.
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“Let’s not waste time on something that is not going to happen,” Pelosi, a California Democrat, said when asked about the possibility of remote voting.
Pelosi said remote voting presents technological and security challenges and, most importantly, questions about whether it is constitutional.
“There is no way we can get into remote voting without serious conversations in the House and changing the rules,” Pelosi said.
Some House and Senate lawmakers in both parties have stepped up demands for a change in the rules to allow remote voting in response to the threat of the coronavirus.
Several lawmakers have become infected, and dozens have ended up in self-quarantine after exposure to the virus.
Both the House and Senate were forced to adjourn and will not return to the Capitol until at least April 20.
But neither Pelosi nor Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are eager to end the longstanding requirement that lawmakers vote in person, although the Senate allows voting by proxy in committees.
Legislation has been introduced in both chambers to allow remote voting. Pelosi has assigned House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, with examining the steps the House would need to take to enable remote voting, she said Monday.
“That is way down the road,” Pelosi said.
McGovern issued a report last week on voting options and determined that changing the rules to allow remote voting during the coronavirus outbreak is not realistic.
“Significant security and logistical concerns surround remote voting, and opponents of the legislation could raise constitutional questions surrounding the process,” McGovern wrote in the report. “Allowing remote voting would require major changes to the House rules for this purpose — and much smaller changes have taken years of study and consideration to implement.”
President Trump extended social distancing guidelines until April 30 on Sunday, and some states have enacted stay-at-home orders for residents.
