Texas AG Paxton to Newsmax: Proxy Voting Unconstitutional

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Newsmax Tuesday that he has filed a lawsuit to block the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package because a number of House members voted by proxy to pass it.

“Since 1789, the first Congress met and there was a requirement in the Constitution that you have a quorum, which means you have a majority of members there voting in person,” Paxton said during an appearance on Newsmax’s new show “Carl Higbie: FRONTLINE.” “Throughout our entire history that’s been followed until [former House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.] used COVID, even though we weren’t really having much of a COVID problem. She used it and said that these congressmen can vote by proxy.”

“In other words, they don’t have to show up, somebody will vote for them,” he continued. “Just send in your vote to the other person. That is not allowed by the Constitution. What is allowed is to stop voting or don’t vote and go find those members and then vote.”

In the suit, Paxton argues that President Joe Biden’s signing of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 was unlawful because less than half of the members of the House of Representatives were physically present for the vote.

Pelosi established proxy voting in May 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of being physically present in the chamber, House members could submit a letter to have a colleague state their position on bills and amendments and even vote for them.

Citing the ongoing public health emergency, Pelosi extended proxy voting several times. In January, then-newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., put an end to voting by proxy.

“No more proxy voting,” McCarthy said at the time. “Effective immediately, Members of Congress have to show up to work if they want their vote to count.”

According to Paxton, there’s established precedent for McCarthy’s decision.

“That’s what we’ve always done for last 250 years,” he said. “She [Pelosi] decided the Constitution didn’t matter and that it was more convenient to let other people vote for other people.”

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