House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she’s aiming for a vote next week on a massive spending bill as well as a resolution to change the House rules and allow members to vote in place of absent fellow lawmakers.
“Our members want remote voting by proxy,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday. “If people can’t come because we don’t want them to come if someone has a fever, they should be able to be recorded.”
Democrats have wavered on when the House will reconvene. Pelosi has been aiming for Monday, but only if Democratic lawmakers have completed drafting a massive economic aid package that would provide $1 trillion to state and local governments, along with other significant spending initiatives.
Pelosi said Thursday she is aiming for “hopefully next week,” which indicates Democrats would have the spending bill ready by then.
Pelosi’s decision to move ahead with a resolution to allow proxy voting abandons an earlier plan to work out a bipartisan agreement with Republicans.
Leaders in both parties have met to discuss proxy voting as well as allowing committee business and votes by video, but there has been no agreement.
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has instead issued a plan to reconvene Congress, beginning with subcommittee meetings.
He told reporters Thursday he’s not in favor of proxy voting because it would apparently allow one lawmaker to vote for the entire caucus.
The Democratic proposal would allow an absent lawmaker to instruct a lawmaker on the House floor to vote in his or her place.
“I have discussed that with the speaker, and I have some real concerns,” McCarthy, a California Republican, said Thursday.
McCarthy said Democrats and Republicans returned safely in April to vote on a $484 billion small-business and health spending package. Hundreds of lawmakers were also in the chamber on March 27 to pass a $2.2 trillion economic aid package.
But Pelosi said it’s too dangerous and that her members are demanding a way to vote without having to return to the Capitol. She noted the House sergeant at arms has warned that it is not safe for 430 lawmakers to return to the Capitol because of the risk of the coronavirus.
Pelosi planned to hold a vote to allow proxy voting in April but backed down after Republicans planned to vote against it in unison. But members of her caucus were not happy with the decision.
“They wanted to be able to vote by proxy right away,” Pelosi said. “So, now we are giving that a chance, and hopefully we can do that in a bipartisan manner.”
Pelosi said lawmakers are examining hearings held electronically as well as committee votes to advance legislation.
“A lot of it hinges on what’s happening with the Capitol as far as the sergeant at arms is concerned.”
