Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, on Friday ranted against a Democratic proposal to allow proxy voting over a “wishy washy” fear of dying.
In a House floor tirade, Gohmert said the move would violate the Constitution.
“You can’t pass a bill on this floor with proxies and have it upheld unless you change the Constitution, and this doesn’t do it,” he bellowed. “Now some here say, ‘But if it saves one life, it’s worth it.’ How about the million Americans who laid down their lives not for a wishy washy ‘Oh maybe we should be afraid we might get something and die.’ They didn’t do that in the Spanish flu days, they didn’t do it in the Civil War, but now we’re going to do it? Come on.”
Gohmert referred to the Constitution’s clause clarifying that a quorum in the House is constituted by a majority of its members being present.
House Rules Committee chair Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Miss., who helped craft the proposal pushed back.
"Oh my goodness," McGovern said after the speech, defending the proposal's constitutionality, The Hill reported.
"The gentleman refers to the Spanish flu. Let me just say: That is not an example of something we want to aspire to,” McGovern added. “The Congress was basically paralyzed. So please, let's get real here."
House Democrats have laid out a plan in which absent lawmakers could permit colleagues in the House chamber to cast floor votes on their behalf, and allow committees to conduct hearings, depositions and markups of legislation away from Washington during the COVID-19 crisis.
Republicans derided the plan as one to “abandon ship.”
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