It’s way too early to tell what House Republicans might do with their slim majority.
Investigations are certain in several areas but meaningful legislation will be difficult with little margin for error. Those things will shake out over time.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has done one thing so far we think most will agree with.
He announced the end of proxy voting (established by then speaker Nancy Pelosi during the pandemic in 2020) where members can arrange for another member to cast their vote if they are absent.
While that may have been the right decision at the time, McCarthy’s change in policy is the right decision now.
Members of Congress ran for their positions and they should show up for work every day, unless there is a fam-ily situation, illness or emergency.
We do realize that events can force someone to miss a vote now and then, but those types of emergencies are relatively rare.
Members should not, for instance, miss votes because they are running for another office – something sure to come up as at least three House members have al-ready announced Senate bids and another is reportedly running for Chicago mayor. Others are likely to seek a different office. Who knows, some of them may run for president.
Members should also not miss votes for fundraisers or other meetings, which we suspect happens with both parties.
In fact, members of both parties have taken advantage of proxy voting, including, we believe, some who now praise the end of the practice.
But that needs to stop.
Barring an emergency, attendance should be mandatory in Congress.
We hired these people to represent us and a good part of their job is showing up – especially to vote on legislation that will affect everybody.
We don’t know how things will play out in this session of Congress (though a good amount of turbulence is likely), but ending proxy voting is a good decision to kick off the congressional year.
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