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More than a dozen House Republicans, many of whom were scheduled to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, skipped Friday’s vote in the chamber on the $1.9 trillion Covid Relief Bill and designated proxies to vote on their behalf instead.
The GOP Reps. sent in letters that said they were “unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber” on Friday due to the “public health emergency.”
The members include Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who addressed the conference on Friday, as well as others who were listed as scheduled speakers — such as Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona, Jim Banks of Indiana, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, Ted Budd of North Carolina, Mark Green of Tennessee, Darrell Issa of California, Ronny Jackson of Texas, Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Devin Nunes of California and Greg Steube of Florida.
Republicans railed against proxy voting when it was first proposed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a way for the House to continue to conduct business during the pandemic, with all of them voting against authorizing proxy voting.
“Leaders show up no matter how uncertain the times are,” Cawthorn tweeted last summer. “The Democrats are cowards for not showing up to work.”
Leaders show up no matter how uncertain the times are. The Democrats are cowards for hiding and not showing up to work. I guess we can label them as ‘Nonessential personnel’?
— Madison Cawthorn (@CawthornforNC) July 1, 2020
Budd introduced a bill last May entitled the “No Pay for Proxy Voting Act.”
House Rules Chairman Jim McGovern called out the “hypocrisy” that “has become a tenant of the Republican Party.” “Let me get this straight: these Members can’t vote in person because of the pandemic, but they manage to attend CPAC? They were even maskless at this super spreader event. It’s outrageous!”
1/ Apparently hypocrisy has become a tenant of the Republican Party. House Republicans complained about the use of proxy voting allowing Members to cast their vote remotely when COVID made traveling to Washington unsafe. They even sued to stop it!
— Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) February 26, 2021
2/ Today, some are now using it while attending CPAC so they can throw red meat to their partisan base. Let me get this straight: these Members can’t vote in person because of the pandemic, but they manage to attend CPAC?
— Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) February 26, 2021
3/3 They were even maskless at this super spreader event! It’s outrageous.
— Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) February 26, 2021
