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from RealClearPolitics
Proxy Voting Is Abused, but Emergency Use Is Reasonable
By A.B. Stoddard
March 29, 2022
In the likely event that Republicans take back control of the House of Representatives this fall, the debate over proxy voting will end because GOP leader Kevin McCarthy has pledged to eliminate it. But with the pandemic abating and remaining restrictions being lifted, the Democratic majority is insisting that proxy voting remain in place until mid-May. Democrats aren’t shy about conceding that they have become addicted to this unprecedented crisis perk.
A temporary measure enacted in May 2020 over the initial objections of many Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has been extended repeatedly for nearly two years, even though the Senate continued voting in-person all along. Members of both parties have voted absentee in the House, as many as 70 per day on average, having another representative stand in for them. There were 17,000 in 2021 alone – and only one-fourth of lawmakers voted entirely in person since it began (78 Republicans and 23 Democrats). A study by The Ripon Society found Democrats cast 72% of the total proxy votes in 2021.
Proxy voting enabled GOP Rep. Russ Fulcher of Idaho to work through his cancer treatments, while Democratic Rep. Donald Payne mostly voted by proxy because he is a diabetic who was concerned about the number of unvaccinated lawmakers. Yet the practice was badly exploited by other lawmakers.
The proxy system increased vote totals, and helped Democrats manage a terribly thin margin of only four seats in the lower chamber, as members mostly abused it for political and personal comfort that had nothing to do with the coronavirus. Whether they were voting in absentia to join President Biden when he came to their district, or to participate in protests during the murder trial of police officer Derek Chauvin in Minnesota, the corrosive result is the same. As Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher said, “It’s exacerbating the lack of trust in the institution because so many members are lying.”
Voting remotely is easy to cheat at; it doesn't require a doctor's note. All members must do is sign a note to the House clerk that says they are “unable to physically attend proceedings in the House chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency.” And of course, it is often used to lengthen the weekend: Most proxy votes happen on the days members are scheduled to travel to or from Washington.
McCarthy attempted to block proxy voting immediately, filing suit in 2020 and calling the rule change “unconstitutional.” Numerous Republicans signed on to the lawsuit, but ended up quietly removing their names once they, too, started using the proxy. Some 70% of the original plaintiffs voted by proxy or voted as another member’s proxy at least once by the end of 2021, according to a Brookings Institution study. In the end, 150 Republicans removed themselves from the lawsuit.
By January, the only remaining plaintiff besides McCarthy was Rep. Chip Roy, when the Supreme Court declined to take it up after two lower courts agreed they lacked the jurisdiction under the Constitution to rule on procedures and rules of the House of Representatives.
As is often the case, Rep. Madison Cawthorn set a new standard for chutzpah. 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.
Defenders of the proxy vote credit it with allowing them to get more work done, while spending additional time with constituents and family and less time with lobbyists. Rep. Katie Porter, whose district is in Orange County in California, said she works more efficiently when commuting less. “My constituents just want me to work really hard. They don’t care where I work. We don’t have to do things the way we have done since the time of sand,” she told CNN.
Both Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Rules Committee chairman Jim McGovern have spoken favorably of retaining some proxy voting, using technology to allow members more flexibility.
While Hoyer has said that “the majority believes that being in person is a positive way of doing business with one another in the legislation process, whether it’s in committee or on the floor or just on the Hill seeing one another,” he has also advocated for an updated use of the proxy. “I think there will be discussion about should we be able to vote remotely in other circumstances post-COVID19,” he said recently. “There is really, you know, no magic in being in a particular room when you vote.”
The problem is not a lack of magic, but a lack of connection to the job that comes with being present in the body itself. While lawmakers can cast single votes from afar, more members spending more time away from Congress means legislation will be drafted by fewer people, and be less representative of the broad constituencies that make up the membership in the House. Proxy voting empowers leadership, centralizing decisions at the top. Since members were encouraged, decades ago, to spend more time in their districts – and not move their families to Washington – there are fewer and more diminished relationships across the aisle. Congress became less connected, less productive, and more gridlocked.
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.
If Democrats manage to defy the odds and hang on to control of the House this fall, we will hear more about proxy voting, as they are clearly looking for a way to incorporate it permanently in some form. But the party that promises to protect democracy from threats posed by Donald Trump and his allies – from those who spew election lies and worked to overturn a free and fair election – should drastically restrict the proxy vote. If not, they will be responsible for harming a critical part of our democracy as well.