House Democrats are moving forward with a rule change to allow for proxy voting in the House, despite Republican opposition. "The intent of this is to allow the Congress to remain operative. We are the policymaking body and we cannot be neutered, if you will, by a virus," Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told CQ Roll Call.
The Rules Committee will consider the resolution on Thursday, along with the rule for the HEROES Act which Speaker Nancy Pelosi says will be voted on Friday. The rule change for proxy voting will also be on the floor Friday. While Republicans did participate in a task force to come up with means of allowing the House to safely conduct the people's business, they didn't really contribute much. "It was somewhat of an informal task force to try to reach an agreement, and we didn't," Hoyer said of Republican. "We had a relatively short time to do so."
Since Democrats are accepting reality, they do finally understand that this virus will be with us for a while and will in all probability come roaring back in the fall. They've finally realized that continuing to do the people's business does require alternative approaches. "We will now move forward on these temporary emergency procedures to ensure the House can continue fully working for the people during this public health and economic emergency," Hoyer, Rules Chairman Jim McGovern, and House Administration Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, said in a statement. "The time has come to act—further delay is not an option."
What that means in practice is allowing committee to hold virtual hearings, legislative markups, and conducting depositions in investigations. These meetings could be held either entirely online, or with a mix of remote and in-person members. Remote members would be counted for quorum purposes. In floor votes, members could designate a colleague to vote for them, needing to write to the clerk beforehand (by email) authorizing the colleague and with exact instructions on their votes for each measure being considered. "This is going to be a very limited, direct instruction from the person who's giving the proxy to the person who's holding the proxy and will counsel the proxy, specific instructions of how to vote on each and every issue," Hoyer told Roll Call. Those voting by proxy would be listed by the clerk online and in the Congressional Record.
There's good reason for Democrats to move forward on this—their Republican colleagues have proved to be a clear danger to them, refusing to wear masks on the floor during the few meetings the chamber has had since the crisis began. The death cult of Republicans, denying there's a very real danger with this virus and playing "warrior" for Donald Trump, puts everyone within close proximity to them in danger.