Yahoo Autos Republicans cite ‘public health emergency’ for skipping Covid relief votes while speaking at maskless CPAC
Republican congressman Madison Crawthorn speaking at CPAC
(REUTERS)Several Republican lawmakers said they could not attend Congress on Friday to vote for the coronavirus stimulus package due to the pandemic, but were due to appear in-person at the conservative conference taking place in Orlando, Florida, this weekend.
According to CNN, the Republican lawmakers included those who were former US president Donald Trump’s closest allies - some of whom were scheduled to speak at this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida.
The group of twelve House Republicans said they were unable to attend a number of votes in the House of Representatives that day "due to the ongoing public health emergency”, in a written letter seen by CNN.
The House went on to approve the Biden administration’s proposed $1.9 trillion (£1.4 trillion) Covid stimulus package in the early hours of Saturday morning, with those absent asking other colleagues to vote on their behalf — a process known as proxy voting.
Among those who signed the letter were Lauren Boebert, the newly elected Representative for Colorado’s 3rd congressional district, who is scheduled to speak at CPAC on Saturday evening.
As CNN reported, she was spotted in the grounds of the US Capitol on Friday morning and it was not clear if she voted in-person for the coronavirus stimulus package.
Other House Republicans who signed the letter were Paul Gosar, Jim Banks, Madison Cawthorn, Ted Budd, Mark Green, Ronny Jackson, Mike Kelly, Ralph Norman, Devin Nunes, Greg Steube and Darrell Issa.
A spokesperson for Mr Issa, the Representative for California's 50th congressional district, told CNN that he "complied with all House voting rules in lodging his opposition to what the Democrats labelled as Covid relief”.
The spokesperson, Jonathan Wilcox, added that the relief bill “devoted more than 90 per cent of its total to non-Covid spending.”
