Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi exits from the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol during the coronavirus pandemic on Friday.
Photo: olivier douliery/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—The House approved a slate of rules changes that will allow lawmakers to cast votes by proxy during the coronavirus pandemic, a historic step that Democrats cast as pragmatic but that Republicans warned could alter the nature of Congress.
The Democratic resolution authorizing proxy voting and committees to operate remotely cleared the House on Friday on a 217-189 vote, after talks failed to produce a bipartisan agreement. The new rules, which take effect immediately, will allow the House speaker to initiate remote operations for 45 days if nonpartisan officials have declared a public-health emergency.
Democrats argue that remote operations are needed for Congress to keep open during the pandemic, in part to pass more legislation responding to the crisis. They say the health emergency has made travel and in-person operations too risky, and the House has convened only sporadically to take important votes.
“Convening Congress must not turn into a super-spreader event,” said House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D., Mass.). “What would be radical is if this House did nothing, if we made members decide between spreading a deadly virus or legislating for the American people.”
Republicans say that in-person meetings are the heart of the legislative process, and that lawmakers should be at their workplace like other essential workers such as grocery-store clerks and doctors.
“The temporary changes that we make today become the precedent that we follow tomorrow,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.), the top Republican on the House Rules Committee. The new process “will fundamentally change the way the House operates and will remove the collegial environment we enjoy when we meet in person, get to know one another.”
Senior House Democrats and Republicans had tried to reach a bipartisan agreement over the rules changes, but a designated task force failed to find a consensus. Among their objections, Republicans had sought the ability to block a decision by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) to initiate remote proceedings—or to extend them after 45 days.
The proposal would require the speaker to consult with the minority leader, but wouldn’t give House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) the ability to stop the move to remote operations.
Under the new rules, lawmakers will be able to authorize another member who is present in the chamber to cast a vote on his or her behalf following written instructions. A member could cast proxy votes on behalf of no more than 10 members at the same time.
Committees also will be able to operate remotely, with committee members able to participate in public hearings on a remote basis and to cast votes. Remote meetings won’t be permitted for closed hearings.
The resolution also authorized a study on remote-voting technology, with Democrats saying that remote voting that incorporates advanced technology may become a necessity, given that health officials have warned that the pandemic may be even worse next winter than during this past one.
Under the Constitution, each chamber has the power to set its own rules. But critics of the rules changes say they could be the subject of a constitutional challenge, given that the Constitution also has provisions specifying that a majority is needed to form the quorum necessary to do business.
In the Senate, some lawmakers have proposed remote voting, but leaders of the Republican majority haven’t embraced the idea.
—Kristina Peterson contributed to this article.
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Write to Siobhan Hughes at siobhan.hughes@wsj.com
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