A number of prominent House Republican lawmakers have skipped Friday's votes on the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan citing the "ongoing public health emergency" of the COVID-19 pandemic and registered to vote by proxy – but have made appearances at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida.

What You Need To Know

  • A number of House GOP lawmakers voted by proxy citing the "ongoing public health emergency" of the COVID-19 pandemic, but made appearances at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida

  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) implemented the voting by proxy rule in May 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic; Republicans sued to block the measure

  • North Carolina Reps. Madison Cawthorn and Ted Budd have both been critical of voting by proxy in the past, but utilized the rule to attend CPAC

  • Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), the Chair of the House Rules Committee, criticized the move: "Apparently hypocrisy has become a tenant of the Republican Party"

Two GOP members of North Carolina's Congressional delegation – Reps. Ted Budd and Madison Cawthorn – voted by proxy on Thursday, signing letters saying that they were unable to physically attend the vote due to "the ongoing public health emergency."

Cawthorn and Budd were both slated to speak at CPAC on Friday. In a statement, a spokesman for Budd blamed Democrats for rearranging the vote schedule.

"After Democrats rearranged the House schedule with extremely late notice, Rep. Budd was forced to proxy vote for the first time," the spokesperson said in a statement. "Rep. Budd remains philosophically opposed to proxy voting, which is why he has already donated his congressional salary for the days he proxy-voted to the North Carolina Restaurant Workers Relief Fund to support restaurants who were shut down during the pandemic. Mentioning the pandemic in the letter is the standard language that both parties are required to use to proxy vote."

Budd previously introduced legislation withholding pay for any member of Congress voting by proxy, noting in a statement at the time that "Outsourcing the duty of a member of Congress is unconstitutional and wrong. House members should not be allowed to send someone else to do their jobs for them. In the real world, if you don’t show up for your job, you don’t get paid. The same principle should apply to our country’s representatives."

"If they don’t come to work, they shouldn’t receive their taxpayer-funded paycheck," Budd added at the time.

In July 2020 Twitter post, prior to being elected to Congress, Cawthorn branded Democrats who vote by proxy "cowards."

The moves drew criticism from Democratic lawmakers.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), the Chair of the House Rules Committee, did not hold back in his criticism: "Apparently hypocrisy has become a tenant of the Republican Party," he wrote on Twitter. 

"House Republicans complained about the use of proxy voting allowing Members to cast their vote remotely when COVID made traveling to Washington unsafe," McGovern continued. "They even sued to stop it!"

"Let me get this straight: these Members can’t vote in person because of the pandemic, but they manage to attend CPAC?" he asked. "They were even maskless at this super spreader event! It’s outrageous."

Virginia Democrat Rep. Don Beyer agreed with McGovern's assessment.

"My Republican colleagues here called us "cowards" for voting by proxy during the pandemic, filed a lawsuit to stop it, and even introduced a bill to strip pay from Members who vote by proxy," Beyer wrote on Twitter. Now they are in Orlando proxy voting from CPAC while we debate and vote on Covid relief."

In order to vote by proxy, lawmakers must sign a letter filed with the House clerk that says "I am unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency" and designate another member to vote in their stead. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) implemented the rule in May 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans attempted to fight voting by proxy in court.

Other House GOP lawmakers who signed up to vote by proxy but are listed as CPAC speakers include Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, according to CNN, both staunch allies of former president Donald Trump.

Spectrum News' Kevin Frey contributed to this report.