Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA) admitted to vacationing while proxy voting last month on “historic” legislation, despite telling the Clerk of the House that her absence was due to the “ongoing public health emergency.”
In a Sunday news segment on Iowa’s WHO-DM, Axne confirmed the reports showing she was on a “planned” vacation with her family when she claimed to be “unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency” in a signed letter sent to the Clerk of the House on August 12, showing that the congresswoman was lying.
WHO-DM played a clip of Axne saying:
The deal is I’m a family member. I’m a mom of two boys and my husband. We had August session, where we were out of session here, and I had a trip planned for eight months and paid for because that was the only time that I could go because we were out of session. Now, Senate finally got their act together, was able to pass something a year after we passed in the House, and then emergency vote was called. I was gone. I wanted to make sure that I voted so Iowans can have a voice because we need the Inflation Reduction Act for Iowans and we needed to make sure we have that vote [Emphasis added].
As previously reported, Axne sent a letter to the Clerk to grant authority to her Democrat ally, Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), to cast her vote by proxy and pass the $700 billion “Inflation Reduction” Act, which passed by a 13-vote margin — 220 to 207.
Following the passage of that piece of legislation, Axne’s official Twitter account, operated at taxpayer expense, read, “PASSED! I just voted YES on the #InflationReductionAct — a historic bill to lower health care costs, cut prescription drug prices, lower the cost of energy, and much more.”
Members are allowed to proxy vote, which means that one member of the House can cast a vote on behalf of an absent member, starting in 2020. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has extended proxy voting multiple times, with the current extension going until November 10, after the midterm election.
Each time, Pelosi has cited the “public health emergency” due to coronavirus. However, there has been controversy surrounding the ability to proxy vote. Some insiders believe it is a way for the speaker to allow vulnerable members to campaign, while others argue that proxy voting is unconstitutional.
Mike Berg, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said, “Cindy Axne prioritized her vacation to France over representing Iowans in Congress and then lied about it. Axne will have plenty of time to enjoy the French Riviera when voters fire her this November.”
Last week, the House Republican leaders unveiled to GOP members at a conference meeting the party’s new “Commitment to America” agenda, a core set of policies designed to help them and their candidates communicate the GOP’s vision effectively in the midterm elections.
The last section of the policy agenda says that the GOP would end the use of proxy voting for members of Congress, in addition to pushing for election integrity measures, including voter ID and poll watchers.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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