For the first time in US history, Congress was allowed vote by proxy to help protect the lawmakers amid the coronavirus pandemic, Time reported on Wednesday.This measure was not taken during the 1918 Spanish Influenza or even the Civil War, as the Constitution requires people be “present” in order to vote.The measure allows lawmakers to ask those who are present to vote on their behalf and had been challenged by the Republican party.
Some 70 Democrats cast their vote via proxy already by requesting the House Clerk to allow them to do so, but House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California called the new measure "a dereliction of duty."The Democrat-led change allows one lawmaker to vote on behalf of up to ten others who wish to do so, but during the actual vote most voted on behalf of one or two people in addition to their own vote.The issue being voted on, the Uighur sanctions bill, which deals with protecting the Muslim-Chinese minority, was approved 413 to 1, the New York Times reported. The bill calls for sanctions against those responsible for the oppression of Uighurs and other Muslim groups in China's Xinjiang province. US President Donald Trump will decide if he will sign it or veto it, in the near future.
Republicans filed a lawsuit against the new measure, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called “a sad stunt.”
The Federal Court is unlikely to rule against the new measure as the Constitution allows the House to make its own rules.