[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 204 (Thursday, December 3, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H6059-H6060]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              PROXY VOTING

  (Mr. McCARTHY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, for months, Democrats have used an 
unconstitutional scheme to allow Members to vote from home. They call 
it proxy voting. I call it exactly what it is: shadow voting.
  Mr. Speaker, Democrats are turning away from their responsibility to 
their constituents by staying home and handing their voting card to 
Nancy Pelosi. They are handing over their voting card and not coming to 
work.
  But why? What is so important that they can't show up? Do you know 
what we found? Because they wanted to attend a space launch that never 
took off, or they want to hang out on their boat. Who knows what else 
they have done.
  Mr. Speaker, they don't have to show up to vote because, guess what. 
Someone else will do it for them. Maybe if we renamed Congress ``The 
French Laundry,'' they all might show up here.
  This has been going on for months, and Democrats have worked overtime 
to hide it from the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, to date, there have been 4,836 votes cast in this body 
by lawmakers who weren't even here.
  Think about that: 4,836 votes cast in this body by Members who 
weren't even here.

[[Page H6060]]

  Over a dozen lawmakers have given their vote to Nancy Pelosi on every 
single bill since this scheme was in place. Last night, the number was 
over 60 Democrats. Nearly one-third of the entire conference of the 
Democratic Party did not show up for work. I promise you, each and 
every one of them will get their paycheck.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans are working hard to keep their businesses 
open, to keep food on the table and their kids in school. They deserve 
a Representative who will show up for the job, the job that they said 
they would do, the job they asked people to vote for them so they would 
come to Washington to give their voice to Congress, not to give it to 
Nancy Pelosi.
  Mr. Speaker, this is embarrassing. This week is only about cats and 
cannabis when it should be about COVID. Think for one moment of what we 
are going to do in this body with the history of what has happened on 
this floor: the battle of civil rights; the question of whether to end 
World War I or World War II; the question of whether every man and 
woman is equal. Those are the things that we debate on this floor. And 
they were debated in the times of need.
  But what is of need to the American public? We all know the 
challenges faced before us. We have been fighting it for months. But 40 
times on this floor the Democrats have said no.
  Mr. Speaker, our own Speaker of the House said we would not leave 
this body until we voted on COVID relief. They had 40 times to do it, 
and they said no.
  Mr. Speaker, 4,836 times a Member didn't even show to cast a vote, 
and they still got paid. What about all those businesses that are shut 
down now permanently? There is more than $130 billion sitting to go to 
the workers for small businesses.
  Mr. Speaker, 23 Democrats on the other side signed a letter in 
September and said: If we do not get a COVID relief bill, we will sign 
that discharge petition.
  And what does that do for the American public? It goes around the 
Speaker of the House so the voice could actually come to the floor and 
the bill could be here and voted upon. And they said they would sign it 
if nothing happened. I wonder if their word will be kept, because I 
looked at the book and it hasn't.
  The Speaker of the House said we would not leave unless we had COVID 
relief. But they call us back, and what do they call us back for? The 
post office.

  Well, Republicans put up COVID relief on the floor that day, but 
Democrats said no. They call us back this week when people are hurting, 
people are losing their jobs. Maybe that is why one-third of the 
Democrats don't show, because they don't want to show their face to the 
constituents, that the only thing they are going to do on the floor 
this week is vote about cats and cannabis.
  Mr. Speaker, that is wrong, and you know it. Everybody in this body 
knows it. It is despicable.
  If Democrats want to waste the American people's time with these 
ridiculous bills, they will need to show up to do it. Republicans won't 
be a party to this unconstitutional, undemocratic mess any longer.

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