House Passes Plan for Proxy Voting
Greg Nash/The Hill
We ran the numbers: There are 1604 news articles covering this topic. 63% (1017) are left leaning, 19% (301) center, 18% (286) right leaning.
On Friday, the House approved the most radical change to its rules in generations, allowing members to cast committee and floor votes remotely. While left-leaning articles highlight that Democrats pushed forward for the change despite failing to negotiate with Republicans, right-leaning articles highlight that Republicans panned the move as a power grab by Democrats.
A left-leaning article by The Washington Post highlights that Democratic leaders pushed forward with the changes this week after failing to come to terms in two weeks of negotiations with Republicans, who opposed several key measures in the proposal. The article also notes that many of the rule changes largely match procedures already in use in the Republican-controlled Senate, such as the use of videoconferencing technology at committee hearings.
The Hill published a centrist article highlighting that Representative Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) railed against Democrats’ proposal to allow proxy voting in the House, saying the move would violate the Constitution. House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who helped craft the proxy voting proposal, slammed Gohmert’s remarks, pointing to a letter from a constitutional expert stating that the constitution indicates that each body of Congress has the authority to establish its own rules.
Fox News published a right-leaning article highlighting that Republicans panned the move as an “unconstitutional power grab” to undo more than 230 years of House tradition. Republicans argued that if essential workers like police officers and health care workers are showing up to work during the pandemic, so should members of Congress.
From the left
House vote underway to adopt historic changes allowing remote voting during pandemic
Washington Post