House GOP Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy offered harsh criticism for Speaker Pelosi as the lower chamber remains closed; Democratic leadership is floating the possibility of proxy voting. Despite the senate’s reopening, Speaker Pelosi refuses to let the House get back to work.
Voting by proxy would put more power in the hands of Speaker Pelosi, as she would vote on behalf of her members. Leader McCarthy criticized the idea of the House voting by proxy, and contends that the lower chamber has a constitutional obligation to assemble and vote in person:
America's founders would be ashamed of what Nancy Pelosi is doing right now. Congress has a Constitutional mandate to assemble. - @marklevinshow pic.twitter.com/O1cNiF4464
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) May 10, 2020
"Our founders would be ashamed. They expect us to assemble, but what she is doing [is going] directly against the founders' article one, four, five or six...People across America lend their voice to their Congresswoman or Congressmen and hold them accountable every two years. They cannot hold accountable somebody who passes that vote onto somebody else,” Leader McCarthy said.
As the Senate demonstrated last week, Congress’s safe reopening is possible. Indeed, Leader McCarthy released a detailed plan to safely bring the House back to work.
“I've actually laid out a plan for more than a month of how we can do this in a safe manner. Just the states are opening up, but if you look at the history of America, Congress has met during the Civil War when there were fights not far from here, during every war, during every crisis, during 9/11, Congress was still able to meet and carry out the role they should be doing, and we should be doing that now,” he continued.
As additional coronavirus legislation is worked out, and proxy voting pushed by Democrats, House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said that the lower chamber will return to in-person session no earlier than Friday:
No votes in the House before FRIDAY, HOYER’s office announces.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) May 11, 2020
Lawmakers will get a 72-hour heads up. pic.twitter.com/HktBXPcrf8
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