Born of a crisis, remote voting in Congress has become a useful perk

When the House revamped its rules in the early days of the pandemic to allow lawmakers to vote remotely, 161 Republicans sued to block the arrangement, arguing that it “subverts” the Constitution.

But those objections were a distant memory by late June, when several Republicans skipped town during a legislative workweek to rally at the southwestern border with Donald Trump. While they glad-handed with the former president, the lawmakers certified they were “unable to physically attend proceedings in the House chamber” because of the coronavirus and designated colleagues in Washington to cast proxy votes.

The arrangement might have attracted more notice had it not become so widespread since the House adopted rules last spring to allow members, for the first time, to cast votes without being physically present in the chamber. Once billed as a temporary crisis measure to keep Congress running and lawmakers protected as a deadly pandemic ripped across the country, the proxy voting system has become a tool of personal and political convenience for many House members.

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Perhaps no one has benefited more from the arrangement than Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Proxy voting has allowed Pelosi, whose majority is slim, to all but ensure that absences alone do not cost her pivotal support.

With the current rules in need of reauthorization in August, senior Democrats are among those pushing for a fuller debate — both over when to end the emergency powers in place and whether the House ought to take a cue from other American institutions and use the pandemic as an impetus for more lasting change.

Nearly 3 in 4 House Democrats have voted remotely at least once under the current rules, according to an analysis by CNN. Republican use has been less widespread, but dozens of party members have also voted by proxy.

But Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the minority leader, and other top Republicans have taken a hard line against the practice. They have vowed to immediately do away with proxy voting should they win back the majority in 2022.

McCarthy’s stance is likely to make it harder to reach the bipartisan consensus that would be needed to make any changes truly lasting. Republicans’ lawsuit to strike down proxy voting as unconstitutional is still slowly winding its way though the courts.