Pelosi’s Swan Song: Majority of Congress Votes Remotely by Proxy for $1.7 Trillion Spending Bill

 More than half of the members of the U.S. House voted remotely Friday for the $1.7 trillion government spending bill, claiming in proxy voting letters they could not be present to vote because of the "ongoing public health emergency." More than 220 members used the proxy voting option to vote for the 4,000-plus page omnibus bill, the final vote of the 117th Congress

The Use of Proxy Voting

• The option to vote by proxy, as well as to conduct committee proceedings remotely, was implemented in May 2020
• Tens of thousands of votes have been cast by proxy because of the "ongoing public health emergency," but as revealed in a congressional hearing in March, many members are casting proxy votes not because of coronavirus but because of scheduling conveniences
• House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy railed against those "who don't show up for work" in his floor speech Friday ahead of the spending bill vote
• McCarthy has vowed to end proxy voting should he be elected speaker on January 3 when the majority flips to the GOP

Gallagher: “The overwhelming majority of members are lying and abusing proxy voting not for COVID-19, but to fundraise, attend political gatherings, or go to space launches.”

• “It's not about COVID. It's about birthdays, graduation parties, and it's about the birth of children. That's a different thing," Gallagher said.

The notion of an existing public emergency was quashed by President Joe Biden in September

• The likely last proxy votes cast, ostensibly because of the "public emergency," under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) reign were for a gargantuan spending bill Republicans overwhelmingly opposed
• The bill, passed first in the Senate with help from Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and 17 other Republicans, contained an estimated $15 billion in earmarks

Garcia, who voted against the bill, noted several "cold" features of the bill including the fact that more members were present for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Congress on Wednesday than for the bill vote.

• Garcia said, "The fact that we this week had more members of Congress show up to listen to a speech by a president of a foreign nation than to vote on the annual operating budget for our entire nation is cold."

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/12/23/pelosis-swan-song-majority-of-congress-votes-remotely-by-proxy-for-1-7-trillion-spending-bill/