No More Working From Home: Speaker McCarthy Ends Proxy Voting For The House of Representatives

Jan 20, 2023 | Political News

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) doubled down on his effort to end proxy voting Thursday morning in a tweet aimed at representatives who have utilized the procedural rule over the last Congress.

Proxy voting came about during the COVID-19 pandemic when the House voted to install the rule in May 2020, according to Breitbart. This allowed members of Congress to, instead of being present to vote on a bill, allow another representative to vote for them.

“No more proxy voting,” McCarthy wrote. “Effective immediately, Members of Congress have to show up to work if they want their vote to count.”

The end of proxy voting came about when the House passed the Rules package earlier this month, as previously reported by the DC Enquirer

The Rules package was passed on almost complete party lines with 220 voting in favor and 213 voting against the reforms. Its passage, however, has finally put a nail in the coffin of proxy voting which means that Congress, like every other American, can move on from the legacy of the pandemic.

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Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) also took to Twitter to emphasize the message about proxy voting, writing: “Members of Congress who don’t want to show up and vote should look for another line of work.”

“There are too many issues facing the American people for Congress to be phoning it in,” she continued. “I’m glad proxy voting has come to an end!”

McCarthy explained his reasoning to end proxy voting late last year when he told Fox News that “The Senate has managed to maintain in-person Floor voting for the entirety of the past two years — with a much older population and a 50-50 makeup, no less. From the get-go, we warned that proxy voting would be misused as a means of convenience rather than as a precaution for health — and it has been, by members of both parties.”

The end of proxy voting is a welcome sign for the American people. Congressmen will have to go back to work and represent their constituents on the House floor. The policy's original introduction allowed representatives to vote without even being in Washington. It is good for the health of Congress that everyone is back in the building and able to negotiate with one another for a better America.

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