More than a dozen Republicans tell the House they cannot attend votes due to a “ public health emergency. ” They should be at CPAC.

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But those members are actually expected to be in Orlando and listed as speakers at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual meeting aimed at energizing conservative activists and boosting their own profile.

Among the members are Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, who addressed the conference on Friday, as well as others on the list of scheduled speakers – such as representatives. Paul Gosar from Arizona, Jim Banks from Indiana, Madison Cawthorn from North Carolina, Ted Budd from North Carolina, Mark Green from Tennessee, Darrell Issa from California, Ronny Jackson from Texas, Mike Kelly from Pennsylvania, Ralph Norman from South Carolina, Devin Nunes from California and Greg Steube from Florida.

Colorado freshman Rep Lauren Boebert also signed a letter saying she couldn’t attend the votes and was listed as a CPAC speaker, although CNN spotted her on Capitol Hill earlier today on Friday and it was not clear whether she planned to skip the evening votes, including on the $ 1.9 trillion Covid relief package.

While assistants to 12 of those members did not respond to requests for comment, a spokesperson for Issa argued her boss had done nothing wrong.

Congressman Issa complied with all House voting rules in voicing his opposition to what Democrats called Covid relief, but who spent more than 90% of his total on non-Covid spending Issa spokesperson Jonathan Wilcox said in a statement.

The move is particularly surprising given that Republicans were furiously critical of the proxy voting system during the coronavirus pandemic, even suing and often ridiculing Democrats for staying home and demanding they return to Washington.

“Leaders show up no matter how uncertain the times are,” Cawthorn tweeted last summer. “Democrats are cowards not to show up for work.”

The main Democrats reacted strongly to the news on Friday, first reported by CNN.

“Apparently hypocrisy has become a tenant of the Republican Party,” said House Rules Speaker Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts. “Let me clear it up: these MPs 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 scandalous!

To vote by proxy, lawmakers must sign a letter with the Clerk of the House and allow another Member to vote at their request and on their behalf. The letters, which are filed with the House Clerk’s office, say, “I cannot physically attend debates in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency.”

Friday is a critical day in the House, where Democrats are pushing through a massive Covid relief plan – although all Republicans at CPAC are expected to oppose the measure. There were other votes in the House during the day.

Republicans are not the only ones to have abused this process.

In the past, Democrats have signed similar letters, claiming they could not attend due to the public health emergency, voting by proxy instead, even though their inability to run was irrelevant. to do with the pandemic.

Indeed, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy hit two Florida Democratic congressmen – Charlie Crist and Darren Soto – last year for attending a SpaceX launch while signing the letter saying it ‘they couldn’t attend the votes.

“Another Democrat caught claiming he couldn’t come to Washington to vote ‘due to the ongoing public health emergency,'” the California Republican tweeted at the time. “But he was okay with seeing a rocket launch.”

This story and title was updated with additional developments on Friday.

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