A Pox on Proxy Voting
The House GOP's "Commitment to America" includes ending a practice that's been abused by House Members. Our elected representatives and their staffs should show up for work.
Of all the abuses and politicization of Congress the past 3 years, from the pandemic to the January 6th Capitol riots, instituting proxy voting for US House floor votes may be the worst. And that’s with stiff composition from the unprecedented and partisan construction of the Special Committee on January 6th. Or forcing 25,000 mostly unarmed National Guard Troops to “protect” the US Capitol for months. There are other examples.
Proxy voting allows House members, instituted during the Covid pandemic, to have colleagues cast votes on their behalf. Despite President Biden asserting that “the pandemic is over,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues abusing her authority and extending the practice through November. Ninety percent of Democrats have voted by proxy instead of showing up to vote, as have some 147 House Republicans, at least in 2021.
It may not be constitutional since Article I requires a quorum of Members to be present to conduct business. The Supreme Court refused to hear a court challenge of Pelosi’s proxy voting scheme by House Republicans. That’s too bad because proxy voting runs afoul of the essence of the legislative process. How can someone represent their constituents and not be at the table to help shape bills, amendments, and legislative strategies as they are developed? It’s not enough just to “vote.” The founders presumed a collegial process in person. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution would never have happened by proxy.
During the pandemic’s early stages, proxy voting was still a bad idea but had merit. It should have ended long ago, certainly by April 2022, when masking requirements were lifted on US airline travel. “In all, 351 House members — 204 Democrats and 147 Republicans — took advantage of the opportunity to designate a voting proxy in 2021,” reported Roll Call. “All told, 17,314 proxy votes were announced by lawmakers from the floor, the CQ Roll Call analysis found, accounting for 9.1 percent of all votes cast in the House. But extending it through the election? That reeks.
“There are more folks using it intermittently,” Molly Reynolds, senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, said in a phone interview. “We’ve started to get some situations where folks are voting by proxy and then very clearly doing something else with their time other than coming to the House floor to vote.”
Um, no kidding. From the Washington Free Beacon:
Chief among those who took advantage of the system is Pelosi's fellow California Democrat, Rep. Eric Swalwell. Swalwell proxy voted 141 times last year, according to a comprehensive Ripon Society study. During the same time, he amassed $45,000 in travel expenses at ritzy hotels, including a stay at the Fairmont San Francisco, where billionaire Ivy Getty got ready for her star-studded wedding, Las Vegas's lavish Cosmopolitan, and Manhattan's five-star Conrad Hotel. Swalwell also dropped almost $50,000 on flights.
Rep. Matt Cartwright (D., Pa.) has used the proxy-voting system many times, but spent thousands traveling to luxury hotels. On Oct. 12, for example, Cartwright used the system, saying he was "unable to physically attend proceedings in the House chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency." That same day, his campaign dropped $2,026.26 on lodging at a "chic Southern style" hotel in Atlanta where rooms cost as much as $599 a night.
The following week Cartwright used the proxy-voting system again—this time to appear with President Joe Biden to tout the White House's spending plan. He appeared maskless on stage and fist bumped a maskless Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) prior to his remarks. Cartwright used the occasion to thank Biden for "rescuing the country from COVID," even though he cited the disease's prevalence as his reason for skipping work.
Despite falling for a Chinese spy in a “honey pot” scandal, Swalwell is guaranteed reelection from his deep-blue Bay area congressional seat. Rep. Cartwright, not so much - he faces Republican Jim Bognet in a rematch from 2020 when Cartwright squeaked out a 12,000-vote victory.
Not to be left out is Iowa’s Cindy Axne. Former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich provides details from his website:
When I was in Des Moines, Iowa, last week, I did an event with Zach Nunn, the Republican state senator running for U.S. Congress against Democrat Incumbent Rep. Cindy Axne.
We were discussing how Axne had voted for the so-called Inflation Reduction Act – the dishonestly named bill which actually increases inflation by spending nearly $500 billion (including $80 billion to help the Internal Revenue Service hire an estimated 87,000 additional agents).
When it passed, Axne tweeted, “PASSED! I just voted YES on the #InflationReductionAct…”
The trouble was, Axne didn’t vote for the bill. She was in France. Somehow, Axne failed to mention that she was in Paris (likely busy drinking Champagne and eating escargot) while a colleague voted for her in Washington.
Surely a Representative being paid $174,000 a year could show up and vote. Not in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic Pelosi established a system of proxy voting, so members could vote without risking spreading the illness.
Like a truant student faking a doctor’s note, Axne cited the COVID-19 measure when she wrote the Clerk of the U.S. House:
“I am unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency,” she wrote in the letter – which delegated to Virginia Rep. Jennifer Wexton the authority to constitutionally represent the people of Iowa.
Now, Axne was able to get away with this scheme because Pelosi extended the proxy voting measure through November. (Likely so her spiraling members can be at home to salvage their campaigns without worrying about missing votes).
Axne didn’t fool anyone for long. She showed up in multiple pictures (clearly in France) on her family members’ social media accounts.
As the local NBC affiliate in Des Moines wrote:
“U.S. Representative Cindy Axne, the 3rd District Democrat from West Des Moines, said that she was on a long-planned family vacation to France in August …The house originally permitted proxy voting as a COVID-19 preventative measure, so that Congress could continue to conduct its work without requiring all members to physically be present. Axne cited that provision in her request to the house clerk for a proxy vote, even though the health pandemic was not the reason that she wasn’t able to be physically present for the vote that day.”
Ohio’s Democratic nominee for US Senate and US Rep Tim Ryan is not to be left out. This from Townhall.com:
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) certainly made news on Wednesday and Thursday for his whereabouts in California, where he was fundraising in his Senate run to replace retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH). While he took advantage of proxy voting, which he claimed was "due to the ongoing public health emergency," the congressman was, in reality, campaigning in Los Angeles on Wednesday and will have another fundraiser on Thursday night. On Thursday, "Tim Ryan" was trending over Twitter as a result.
The story is not only damning because the congressman misled Americans on why he could not vote in person, though it is. And it's not only damning because he's dinged his Republican opponent, JD Vance over this, though it is. Rep. Ryan has a history of calling to make proxy voting permanent.
But the most egregious example may be outgoing US Rep. Kaiali’i Kahele (D-HI), who not only voted in person five times during the first 16 months of his first-and-only term in Congress but kept flying for Hawaiian Airlines. Hawaii Democrats were at least savvy enough not to nominate him as their gubernatorial candidate this year. Yes, he ran. Now he can go back to piloting commercial aircraft full-time.
To be fair, a few House Republicans have abused the process. While 70 House Republicans were party to the legal challenge the Supreme Court refused to hear, all but two had withdrawn their names - Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and US Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) were the only ones left.
“As is often the case, Rep. Madison Cawthorn set a new standard for chutzpah,” wrote AB Stoddard for RealClearPolitics.com. “Formerly a plaintiff, the 26-year-old Cawthorn chided Democrats for abusing the proxy rule, calling them “cowards,” but then used it himself while accompanying former President Donald Trump to the border for a political event in 2021. Several other Republicans used it while entertaining the crowds at CPAC in Florida in February.” Cawthorn lost renomination to his North Carolina congressional seat earlier this year.
Also, in fairness, there may be a role for proxy voting in limited circumstances, such as for Members of Congress who have given birth or have a medical emergency. Stoddard:
At a House Rules Committee hearing this month, Democrats talked about the need for more flexibility with family time for members of Congress. California Democrat Linda Sanchez, who is one of only 11 women to have given birth while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, said, “Congress wasn’t built for working mothers, and it really shows.” She’s right, but how much can our federal legislature adjust to the needs of working mothers in a time when polarization makes cooperation and problem-solving nearly impossible? Not much. A part-time Congress, or partially remote Congress, will worsen the nation's problems.
Roy said he had missed consequential family time, too, including many of his son’s ball games, but described being a member of Congress as a job whose unique demands require attendance. “It’s our job. It’s our obligation. And if you can’t do it, think about not running again,” he said. “Think about resigning.”
What Congress could do is permit members a small number of proxy votes per year to be used for personal events, but require a doctor's note for any proxy votes cast for physical or medical reasons. Before proxy voting, constituents weren’t likely to punish members who missed votes for natural disasters, grieving, and other emergencies.
Stoddard’s prescription is flawed, but temporary medical emergencies (such as giving birth) not involving a severe mental incapacity (such as a stroke) where a House member could otherwise participate makes sense. Pelosi has abused her power by extending proxy voting during the election season for obvious reasons - so her Democratic colleagues stay home to campaign as if the perks of incumbency are not enough. The process has been badly abused and needs to be dramatically curbed, if not eliminated.
Proxy voting has never been allowed for Senate votes. Only in committees.
And by the way, it’s not just proxy abuse - many of these same members have kept their offices closed. Maryland 6th District GOP congressional candidate and former Free Beacon reporter Matt Foldi conducted a “David Trone Closed Office Tour” as part of his unsuccessful campaign for the GOP nomination (disclosure: I contributed to Foldi’s campaign). Trone, a Democrat, is the wealthy owner of Total Wine and Beverage liquor stores in the mid-Atlantic. He faces a stiff challenge from GOP State Delegate Neil Parrott.
Is it too much to ask our elected officials (and their staff) to show up for their most important legislative duties?