Pelosi Extends Controversial Remote Voting Through Christmas

She cited a 'public health emergency' as the reason for the decision.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) (C) wears a protective mask while departing the U.S. Capitol in Washington on July 25, 2021. Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has again extended the controversial proxy voting system in the U.S. House of Representatives through Christmas, citing an ongoing “public health emergency” from COVID-19.

Under the proxy voting system, approved by a party-line vote in Jan. 2021, lawmakers don’t have to show up in person to Capitol Hill to vote. Instead, they can have colleagues cast their ballots for them.

Pelosi made the announcement that she was extending proxy voting through Christmas in a brief Nov. 10 “Dear Colleague” letter.

Attached to the statement was an announcement from House Sergeant-at-Arms William Walker announcing that the public health emergency caused by COVID-19 is still in effect (pdf).

“In light of the attached notification by the Sergeant-at-Arms, in consultation with the Office of Attending Physician, that a public health emergency is in effect due to a novel coronavirus, I am hereby extending the ‘covered period’ [of proxy voting] designated on January 4, 2021, pursuant to section 3(s) of House Resolution 8, until December 25, 2022,” Pelosi wrote.

(L-R) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) talks with Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) during an event about the COMPETES Act at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC., on Feb. 4, 2022. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Democrat-Dominated Process

According to a study by the Ripon Society, the controversial proxy voting practice was dominated by Democrats in 2021.

Pelosi pushed the absentee voting measure through, which allowed members of Congress to vote by proxy, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020. The measure allowed them to work from home, while purportedly satisfying the Constitution’s requirement that lawmakers be present to vote on and approve legislation.

Under the rules laid out in H.Res. 965, sponsored by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), proxy voting was supposed to be in effect for only a limited time, as little was known about COVID-19 in 2020.

Republicans, in conjunction with the chamber’s only independent member, Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.), voted unanimously against the measure. By contrast, only three Democrats voted against it.

Since May 2020, the rule change has been consistently extended and remains in effect at the time of publication.

Republicans have remained generally opposed to the measure since its approval, and the Ripon Society’s study of the practice in 2021 shows that most Republican House members have refrained from using it. Democrats, by contrast, have taken full advantage of the more relaxed rules, casting the overwhelming majority of votes by proxy in 2021.

A total of 17,263 votes were cast by proxy in 2021, making up about 9.3 percent of all votes cast during the year. Of those proxy votes, 12,500—or approximately 72.4 percent—were cast by Democrats, while 4,763 votes—or about 27.6 percent—were cast by Republicans.

Among the House’s 440 members, 339 used proxy voting on at least one occasion.

Broken down by party, 202 out of the 225 House Democrats, or 89.78 percent of the Democratic caucus, have cast a proxy vote on at least one occasion. By contrast, 137 of the chamber’s 215 Republicans have ever used the system, meaning 63.72 percent of House Republicans have voted by proxy at least once.

The measure has been controversial with Republicans since its original introduction and approval by the Democratic majority. In a Jan. 12, 2022, speech on the House floor—over a year after the original proxy voting measure was first adopted on a temporary basis—Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) criticized the practice, which she called “asinine.”

“Have House Democrats become so averse to work that they now believe voting from their couches is a viable option?” Foxx asked. “It is time to end proxy voting once and for all. It is one of the many blemishes that have been put on this great body under one-party rule.

“If the current majority won’t end proxy voting, Republicans will snuff it out entirely when we take back the House. It is past time to get back to work.”

Legal Challenges

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) made a bid to have the proxy voting rules overturned by the judiciary, but an appeals court sided with Pelosi, impelling Republicans to make a final effort to overturn the rule in the Supreme Court.

McCarthy and other Republicans argued in their petition that a clause in Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution, which states that lawmakers “shall not be questioned in any other place,” made the practice illegal. Pelosi argued that the Constitution gave the House permission to make its own rules.

The Supreme Court denied the Republican request, upholding the earlier appeals court decision that ruled that courts didn’t have jurisdiction over internal House rules.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) holds his weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington on March 11, 2021. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Republicans also have attempted to overturn the rule through legislative means.

In March 2021, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) put forward legislation H.Res. 191, which sought to overturn the proxy voting rules altogether and force members of Congress to again come to Capitol Hill to have their votes counted. It was referred to the House Rules Committee, but has received no consideration or vote in the committee.

Another measure put forward by Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) in May 2021, H.R. 7044, would have allowed the practice of proxy voting to continue, but would have seen that members voting by proxy lose their entire pay for that legislative day. As happened to Gallagher’s legislation, H.R. 7044 has effectively died in committee.

Likely Ending Soon

Though the battles for the House and Senate have yet to be called, Republicans seem poised to take at least the lower chamber. If they do, then proxy voting’s days are numbered.

McCarthy, the most likely pick for speaker, has vowed for months that Republicans will end the process on day one if they take the House.

McCarthy has already declared Republican victory in the House, but Pelosi refuses to concede.

Still, jostling for leadership positions has already begun, with McCarthy formally announcing his candidacy for speaker.

As long as things continue to look up for Republicans in the lower chamber, the proxy voting system likely has few extensions left.

The new Congress—the composition of which remains undetermined, particularly in the Senate—will sit for the first time on Jan. 3, 2023.