Altering the rules of the House could set off a chain reaction of unintended consequences that will permanently reshape the legislative branch
The new look in Washington. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images In our new pandemic reality, weddings and funerals are held online. Corporate boards meet virtually, and episodes of Saturday Night Live are taped by the webcams of cast members. Even in the British House of Commons, where the Speaker wore a wig into the 1990s and there is still reserved space for MPs to put their swords, Prime Minister’s Questions have been held via Zoom.
But regular sessions of the House have come almost entirely to a halt and left members grappling with technological, constitutional, and institutional challenges ahead. The lower chamber has been more cautious about returning to Washington than the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been resistant to any significant changes in procedure, is expected to move forward on a number of nominations in the coming days.
Democrats have emphasized voting by proxy on the floor of the House — rather than online or through remote sessions — for several reasons. The first is constitutional. There are potential pitfalls in the text of the Constitution that would rule out remote voting, and although these are likely to be surmountable, they present an additional risk. The second is technological. The membership of Congress is disproportionately old, and some lawmakers are not that very comfortable with technology.
Most congressional legislation does not happen on the floor, and the Democratic proposal would allow broad latitude for committees to meet remotely as well. There would be no floor votes via Zoom, but committee hearings and votes could potentially take place virtually. Tom Cole, McGovern’s counterpart as the top Republican on the Rules Committee, was more skeptical of changes. Cole, a self-described institutionalist, worried emergency modifications to the House rules now would lead to long-term damage. “Once you set precedent, it’s there for all time. I promise you that there are plenty of members who want to go beyond that,” Cole told Intelligencer.
The differing opinions of the two lawmakers are as much about emphasis as policy. McGovern, too, worried about the possibility that proxy voting could usher in too much change, and talked about the need to “build in safeguards,” while Cole noted that technology allowed options that would be unthinkable as recently as 15 years ago, and acknowledged that those who wanted to exercise some of those options “have a case to make, and it’s a real one.
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