More than 20% of House lawmakers were missing from the chamber when Democrats passed a $3.5 trillion budget framework that is poised to become the largest spending package in American history.
Every lawmaker on Tuesday voted on the budget, which passed along party lines and provides an outline for a yet-unwritten spending measure that aims to fund a broad array of social welfare programs, including free universal preschool and paid family leave.
But 87 of the 432 votes were cast in absentia.
‘MISCALCULATION’: BIDEN STRATEGY TO EVACUATE AFGHAN REFUGEES UNDER FIRE
House rules allow voting by proxy, which authorizes Republicans and Democrats physically present in the chamber to cast votes on behalf of colleagues who are absent.
The House approved proxy voting last year to allow the chamber to continue functioning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It marked the first time in the 232-year history of Congress that House lawmakers could vote without physically showing up.
Lawmakers who assign a proxy to cast their vote must provide a letter to the House clerk that cites the ongoing outbreak as the reason for their absence and gives the name of the Republican or Democrat authorized to vote for them.
More than a year after the rule was implemented, lawmakers are increasingly utilizing it for reasons that have nothing to do with the virus.
Two lawmakers who voted by proxy on Tuesday include Reps. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Peter Meijer, a Michigan Republican. The two veterans were 7,000 miles away, on a rogue trip to Afghanistan seeking a first-hand look at the chaotic evacuation of thousands of Americans and Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover.
Other lawmakers have been absent due to cancer treatment or other illnesses, while others have utilized proxy voting to take vacations or hit the campaign trail.
Democratic leaders defend the practice, which also permits virtual committee work, including virtual committee votes to advance legislation. The delta variant has caused new surges in cases and hospitalizations in some areas.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, noted to reporters this week that he anticipates much of the upcoming House committee work will continue to take place virtually, “as the pandemic has risen and risk has increased.”
All House Democrats and most Republicans are vaccinated.
The absentee votes come after Speaker Nancy Pelosi summoned the House to reconvene during what is supposed to be the traditional summer recess. Lawmakers were not scheduled to return until Sept. 20.
Hoyer sent a notice two weeks ago warning lawmakers they must report to the Capitol this week to take up a Senate-passed budget resolution providing the framework for the $3.5 trillion spending plan. The House would also vote to advance a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and vote to pass a key Democratic measure expanding federal oversight of elections, Hoyer told lawmakers.
The $3.5 trillion measure passed Tuesday only after last-minute haggling between Democratic leaders and a pack of moderates who won concessions that are poised to influence the outcome of the legislation. But 51 Democrats were not part of the talks and instead assigned their voting authority to other lawmakers.
Lawmakers, most of whom earn $174,000 annually, do not need to reveal where they are during the votes or why they did not show in person.
The only official recording of their absence is the televised session, as well as letters they are required to send the clerk of the House that uniformly read: “I am unable to physically attend proceedings due to the ongoing public health emergency.”
Democrats passed the proxy voting rule in May 2020 during the height of the pandemic and over the objection of all Republicans. GOP lawmakers blasted the new allowance as an end to more than two centuries of in-person meetings that would curb in-person negotiations on legislation and concentrate power within the top Democratic leadership, specifically Pelosi.
House Republicans tried unsuccessfully to block the move in court, and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, has pledged to end proxy voting if the GOP retakes the majority next year.
But for now, rank-and-file Republicans are fully participating in proxy voting.
Of the 87 lawmakers who voted by proxy on Wednesday, three dozen were Republicans, including former GOP Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry of North Carolina and former GOP Caucus Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington.
McHenry, who is now the top Republican on the Financial Services Committee, assigned North Carolina Republican Ted Budd to vote on his behalf in a letter to House Clerk Cheryl Johnson.
McHenry was in North Carolina attending the birth of his third child, his spokesman told the Washington Examiner.
While he was not present to speak in opposition to the $3.5 trillion spending measure on the House floor, he tweeted his views in the hours ahead of the vote.
“This radical plan is a wish list of left-wing priorities—from the Green New Deal for amnesty to illegal immigrants—that could increase our federal debt by over $17 trillion over the next decade,” McHenry tweeted. “This recklessness must be stopped.”
Also among the missing was House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat.
DeFazio will take the lead on shepherding through the House the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure measure that lawmakers advanced in the same vote.
In addition to voting for spending and infrastructure packages, Democrats also passed sweeping legislation named after the late Georgia Rep. John Lewis that would expand federal oversight of elections.
DeFazio assigned Maryland Democrat Anthony Brown to vote for him Tuesday, but avoided mention of his absence in a next-day tweet about the bill.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I was proud to vote in support of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act yesterday,” DeFazio tweeted. “The right to vote is sacred, and it is the lifeblood of our democracy. I will always fight to defend this fundamental right.”
A representative for DeFazio has not yet responded to a request from the Washington Examiner seeking to find out why he did not physically attend the session.
