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At least 13 House Republicans filed papers for their colleagues to vote on the COVID-19 relief bill on Friday night, citing the ongoing pandemic. However, they are also expected to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida.
Republican Representatives Madison Cawthorn and Ted Budd of North Carolina, Matt Gaetz and Greg Steube of Florida, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Mark Green of Tennessee, Devin Nunes of California, Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, Darrell Issa of California, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Jim Banks of Indiana and Ronny Jackson of Texas, filed papers with the Clerk of the House this week, stating: “I cannot physically attend the proceedings of the House due to the ongoing public health emergency. ”
Cawthorn, Budd, Gaetz and Steube were due to address the Tory rally on Friday, while the others are expected to make remarks on Saturday and Sunday.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Budd said: “After Democrats rearranged the House schedule on extremely late notice, Representative Budd was forced to vote by proxy for the first time. Representative Budd remains philosophically opposed to proxy voting, which is why he has already donated his congressional salary for the days he voted by proxy to the North Carolina Restaurant Workers Relief Fund to support restaurants that have been closed for the pandemic. Mentioning the pandemic in the letter is standard language that both parties should use to get proxy votes. ”
In May 2020, he introduced a bill entitled “No Pay for Proxy Voting Act”.
At least four Democrats are also asking their colleagues to vote on the COVID-19 relief package. Texas Representatives Sheila Jackson Lee, Al Green, Lizzie Fletcher and Sylvia Garcia appointed proxies as they met with President Biden in Texas on Friday during his trip to investigate damage from recent snowstorms.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi implemented proxy voting in May 2020 to give House members a way to vote while avoiding travel that could expose them to COVID-19 during the pandemic. She has since extended proxy voting several times.
The move drew criticism from Republicans, especially after Florida Democrats Charlie Crist and Darren Soto filed letters of attorney citing the health emergency and then turned out to be witnessing the launch of the SpaceX rocket in their native country.
Before being elected, Cawthorn tweeted, “Leaders show up, no matter how uncertain the times are. Democrats are cowards for hiding and not showing up for work. Guess we can label them as ‘nonessential staff’?”
Jonathan Wilcox, a spokesperson for Issa, said the Californian Republican “had complied with all House voting rules by opposing what Democrats called COVID relief, but which enshrined over 90% of its total to non-COVID spending.
“After summarily dismissing hundreds of Republicans’ attempts to continue the bipartisan consensus of previous COVID legislation, it is clear Democrats have no desire for solutions. Just partisanship,” Wilcox said.
GOP Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana accused members of using proxy voting to “play hook.”
“They claimed they couldn’t report for work” due to the ongoing public health emergency “- but then went to watch the rocket launch. It’s not Ferris’ day off Bueller. It’s the Congress of the United States, “he written on twitter.
A spokesperson for Scalise confirmed that he had canceled his speech at the conference due to Friday night’s votes.
Kimberly Brown contributed to this story
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