Everyday office employees are not the only ones dragging their feet as they head back to in-person work amid loosening coronavirus restrictions and rising vaccination rates.
Members of Congress continue to take advantage of rules that allow them to vote remotely despite other pandemic restrictions in the Capitol being lifted.
Masks are no longer required in the Capitol complex or on the House floor for vaccinated individuals. Extended voting time in the House meant to allow for social distancing was once 40 minutes, but is down to 20 minutes. Proxy voting remains an option.
On Monday evening, when members of Congress were still traveling into Washington, D.C., after a two-week break from floor activity, 38 members voted by proxy. On Tuesday, that number dropped to 28.
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Those enjoying voting from their home districts could soon face an abrupt end to that flexibility. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s last extension of proxy voting rules, detailed in a “Dear Colleague” letter last month, ends on July 3.
But Democrats’ razor-thin House majority could incentivize Pelosi to extend the proxy voting rules further, preventing any surprise upsets in the event that a handful of Democrats are unable to show up for a vote.
In May 2020, the House implemented a rule to allow remote voting due to the coronavirus pandemic, breaking normal requirements that representatives debate and vote on legislation in person.
Signs of the pandemic are waning in the Capitol complex. Congress’s attending physician last week issued updated guidance to allow any vaccinated individual on the House floor without a mask, issued after the complex reached an 85% vaccination rate.
“Now that we are lifting the requirement for fully vaccinated individuals to wear masks, we should bring an end to proxy voting and return in-person work,” said Iowa Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in a tweet.
Letters to the House clerk designating proxies argue the lawmakers are unable to vote in person due to the ongoing public health emergency, while critics say the members are merely using the option to work from home and have more flexible travel schedules. Some Republican lawmakers sued over the rules.
More Democrats than Republicans regularly utilize the proxy voting rules. Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Ron Kind has issued more proxy letters than anyone else, according to the House Clerk’s website.
But Republicans have come under fire for proxy voting to fit their own schedule as well. In February, several Republicans designated proxies while they attended the Conservative Political Action Conference.
The utilization of proxy letters has steadily declined since December, when cases spiked and lawmakers began to get vaccinated. In December 2020, members issued 217 letters designating and revoking proxies (which could be applicable for multiple votes), compared to 105 in May 2021. So far this month, lawmakers have issued 49 proxy letters.
Despite House Republican leadership criticizing proxy voting as “flawed” and “ineffective,” some conference members have found the flexibility useful.
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Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz wrote an op-ed for the Washington Examiner in November in favor of proxy voting, breaking with the mainstream GOP line because “time in Washington doesn’t make any of us better.”
This week, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Gaetz’s ally and partner on a nationwide speaking tour, voted for him by proxy.
Texas Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw voted by proxy for weeks after he had eye surgery in his remaining good eye that left him effectively blind during recovery.
