10 House Republicans Support Texas AG’s Bid to Block Omnibus Spending Bill

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit that aims to prevent the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill passed in December by striking down the congressional practice of proxy voting. Ten House Republicans have backed the lawsuit in an April 11 amicus brief obtained by The Epoch Times. The lawmakers supported Paxton’s motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the application of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which passed the House largely due to proxy voting as a majority of the chamber was absent.

The Republicans who signed on to the brief include Chip Roy of Texas, Morgan Griffith of Virginia, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Gary Palmer of Alabama, Matt Rosendale of Montana, and John Rose of Tennessee.

The House instituted proxy voting rules under the leadership of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing members of Congress under quarantine or otherwise unable to vote in person due to the pandemic to designate colleagues to vote in their stead. Speaker Kevin McCarthy officially ended the controversial practice on Jan. 21.

Complaint

Paxton’s lawsuit, filed in February, argues that the Quorum Clause of the Constitution requires members of Congress to be physically present to vote on legislation. According to that clause, “Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each house may provide.”

The complaint notes, “Only with a quorum may either House ‘do business’ and in context, that necessitates physically present members. The power to ‘compel the attendance of absent members’ would make little sense if the Constitution did not require physical attendance.

Supreme Court precedent supports this construction of the Quorum Clause. The Court has held that to constitute a ‘quorum’ necessary to ‘do business’, the Constitution requires ‘the presence of a majority, and when that majority are present the power of the house arises’.”

Bipartisan Practice

McCarthy criticized Democrats for their frequent use of the practice of proxy voting, yet members of both parties took advantage of the opportunity while they could, not always because of the pandemic.

In March 2021, some Republicans received backlash from other members of their own party when they violated an agreement to not use proxy votes for a vote on a gun control measure.