After days of political games from Mitch McConnell, the Senate finally passed the next phase of coronavirus stimulus, a plan salvaged by Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The next step is the House. According to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the current plan is a vote Friday morning at 9 ET. "In order to protect the safety of Members and staff and prevent further spread of COVID-19 through Members' travel, the Republican Leader and I expect that the House vote on final passage will be done by voice vote," Hoyer said. "Members who want to come to the House Floor to debate this bill will be able to do so."
Speaker Pelosi told Politico she would like to see debate on the floor ahead of the voice vote, but also made clear that if a member wanted to push the issue and call for a recorded vote to try to force the House back into session and make everyone return, the majority is prepared to move to change the rules to allow for proxy voting. That would allow a small group of members to case floor votes for colleagues. "If somebody calls for a recorded vote, and once they know we have options [to pass the bill], they probably won't call for it," she said.
It looks like one Republican might be plotting to try it. Rep. Thomas Massie (who is of course from Kentucky because the biggest asshole Republicans are from Kentucky) tweeted out a section of Article 1, Section 5 of the Constitution about the requirements for a quorum of each House. He's not going to be able to derail this on his own.
