House must come home to begin a new Congress | TheHill - The Hill

House Majority Leader Steny HoyerSteny Hamilton HoyerRep. Calvert says he tested positive for COVID-19 Overnight Defense: US sanctions NATO ally Turkey over Russian defense system | Veterans groups, top Democrats call for Wilkie's resignation | Gingrich, other Trump loyalists named to Pentagon board The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Mastercard - Today: Vaccine distribution starts, Electoral College meets. MORE (D-Md.) wondered aloud last fall whether the House might use remote proxy floor voting to conduct its important business on Jan. 3, 2021, the opening day of the 117th Congress. The House Parliamentarian’s Office quickly disabused him of that notion, pointing out that, under the Constitution, a majority of House members must be physically present to constitute a quorum to convene a new Congress, to elect a Speaker and other officers, to be sworn-in, and to adopt House rules. Even once rules are adopted, those members not already sworn-in must, at some point, show-up and take the oath in the House Chamber before they can cast any votes.

Rather than directly contradicting the majority leader’s hopes, Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiCongress closes in on COVID-19 relief, funding deal Bipartisan senators urge surprise billing deal's inclusion in year-end package Democratic leaders under pressure to agree to slimmed-down COVID-19 relief deal MORE (D-Calif.) handed-off to Rules Committee Chairman James P. McGovern (D-Mass.), the task of informing members of constitutional realities. In a letter to his Democratic Caucus colleagues in early December, McGovern stressed the following points: (1) You must be present on the House Floor to be sworn in; (2) Proxy voting ends when this Congress ends; (3) Under the Constitution, “the physical presence of Members is needed” for Congress to begin functioning; and, (4) It is essential to the legitimacy of Congress for members to be in the House Chamber in counting the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6.

The House rule allowing for remote floor voting by proxy (H. Res. 965) was adopted last May in light of the coronavirus pandemic. It permits members not able to attend a House session to designate a member present on the floor to cast their vote for them, provided the absent member gives specific instructions on how they would vote on each matter potentially subject to a rollcall vote. The rule limits the number of proxies a member present can cast on behalf of others to no more than ten.

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House Republicans balked at participating in the proxy floor voting process and have been united in boycotting it over the last seven months, settling instead for having the names of their absentees listed as “Not Voting.” According to my tabulations, since the proxy floor voting rule took effect on May 27, there have been 134 rollcall votes in the House through Dec. 10. When the process began, in the last two session days in May, there were around 70 members who chose to cast their votes by proxy, and around a dozen members listed as not voting.

The number of members using proxy floor voting in the summer months of June and July tapered-off to around 30 to 36 members, while the number of members listed as not voting remained around 15 to 20. That took a turn August when proxies jumped to as high as 69, before settling to around 40 in September. However, as the pandemic hung-on and actually surged in the late fall, the number of members voting by proxy jumped to around 60 in November, where it has remained ever since. Meantime, the number of absent members not using proxies and listed as not voting has averaged around 35.

The point of all this head counting is that the number of members who have used proxies has grown over time, probably both as a matter of safety and convenience. Those absent members not using proxies, mainly Republicans, have been willing to take the hit in the court of public for their absenteeism while standing on the principle that being in Congress should be about more than just voting but should also involve direct participation in the legislative process, if possible, both in committee and on the floor. (The proxy rule adopted in May also authorizes committees to operate virtually.)

Given the persistence of the pandemic and the likelihood that, even with the arrival of vaccines, it will be some time before Congress and the country can return to near-normal. In the interim, the House will likely restore the proxy floor voting rule in January, and some members, mostly Democrats, will continue to take advantage of it depending on the distance between their home districts and the capital and their level of risk.

It is obviously not the most desirable demonstration of participatory democracy. However, the fact that some 360 members on average (out of 435) are still taking the risk to engage directly with the process is an admirable indicator of the degree of their commitment to public service and the national good. Meantime, their required physical presence, both on opening day and on Jan. 6 before the joint session to count electoral votes for president and vice president, are important symbolic reminders of the place members play in our system of governance.

Don Wolfensberger is a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Bipartisan Policy Center, former staff director of the House Rules Committee, and author of, “Changing Cultures in Congress: From Fair Play to Power Plays.” The views expressed are solely his own.

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