On the recordFebruary 25, 2021
I appreciate the gentleman from Pennsylvania. I know that is true and I know your heart for service, and I know wearing the uniform of the military of the United States meant a lot to you and that your service here means a lot. Mr. Speaker, as I get ready to yield to my friend from West Virginia, I would add that my colleagues across the other side of the aisle are effectively canceling Congress. I mean, it is pretty extraordinary when the members of a body essentially act to cancel its own institution. Proxy voting. Half of my Democratic colleagues are never here. About half of the time I look over there and you look at the number of people there, and they are voting from home. By the way, the rules suggest that is supposed to be directly tied to the pandemic. But do you know how many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle--and maybe increasingly a few on my side of the aisle--have been here voting and then submit the proxy form and then fly home? It happens. We are turning this institution on its head. We have remote hearings that are halfway functional, where you sit there for an hour trying to hear each other. We have no regular schedule. It is come and go. It takes hours to vote. We have no regular order. We have massive bills. We have things being done in smoke-filled rooms. We never get to amend. We never get to debate. We never get to actually have an actual discussion on the floor of the House.…
