If the pandemic isn't officially over until the fat lady sings, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just shoved said large woman back out of the wings and into the street with her announcement that proxy voting would be extended for her chamber's members until November 10.
The conveniently timed extension, of course, allows House members in bitter reelection battles to remain on the campaign trail in their home districts through the midterm elections.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi orders the coronavirus “emergency” extended to Nov. 10 so members can keep doing proxy voting - aka not going to DC as people elected them to do. Ridic
— Emily Miller (@emilymiller) September 23, 2022
Pelosi first instituted proxy voting in March of 2020 in response to COVID-19 so that members who were forced into isolation due to exposure to COVID or tested positive could continue to vote while unable to attend proceedings in-person.
Ever since, all a member of Congress needs to do is submit a letter to the clerk of the House of Representatives that follows roughly the following format:
Pursuant to House Resolution 8, I write to notify you of the designation of a proxy to cast my vote.
I am unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency, and I hereby grant the authority to cast my vote by proxy to the Honorable [member of Congress], who has agreed to serve as my proxy.
That is, proxy voting is set up to allow — and is supposedly used for — remote voting "due to the ongoing public health emergency."
But President Joe Biden, in last week's interview on '60 Minutes,' declared that "the pandemic is over." Those remarks have caused headaches for his administration — including undermining the White House's standing request for more than $22 billion in emergency COVID funding — and now Speaker Pelosi as well.
The big guy said “C’mon man, pandemic is over.” Fully vaxxed can now get 5th shot. Nevertheless, Pelosi extends proxy voting due to “novel coronavirus” until the week of the election. pic.twitter.com/flMnBD7krt
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) September 23, 2022
Biden's statement last week came after he declared "independence" from COVID in July 2021 and as he continues to inflict executive power on the American people and the economy under the cover of "COVID emergency" power. The military is still punishing service members for choosing not to take the vaccine, he's still demanding more funding for COVID response, and now Pelosi has extended COVID-triggered proxy voting until after the midterms. All despite the president's stated belief that the pandemic is "over."