U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne is joining Republican colleagues to sue Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi over a resolution that allows members to vote by proxy.
The suit argues that proxy voting, which allows members to have votes counted even when they are not present at the capitol, is unconstitutional, Byrne said in a statement.
“Speaker Pelosi’s attempt to allow Democrats to cast multiple ‘proxy’ votes for their colleagues is a blatant violation of the Constitution,” he said in the statement. “Under rules adopted last week, as few as 22 Democrats can claim a quorum and win a vote against all 197 Republicans.”
In the statement, Byrne went as far as to tell Democrats and Pelosi that if members of the party didn’t want to show up to vote she should hand the gavel over to GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
The suit was brought by McCarthy and 21 other House Republicans. The complaint alleges the resolution violates Article 1, Section 5 of the Constitution. Byrne said as many as 58 Democrats have indicated they don’t wish to travel to Washington due to the COVID-19 pandemic and wish to have another member vote in their stead.
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