Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday sanctioned remote voting for the next 45 days due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The move follows a House vote Friday that changed the 230-year-old rule requiring lawmakers to vote in person.
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The new rule authorizes each lawmaker present in the House chamber to vote in place of up to 10 absent colleagues.
House Republicans opposed the rule change. The GOP-led Senate has been in session since early May and has not approved proxy voting.
The House will hold votes late next week, and it will mark the first time since the body convened in 1789 that lawmakers can vote while absent from the chamber.
The rule change is supposed to remain in place only during the coronavirus outbreak.
Pelosi, a California Democrat, can renew it after 45 days.
