Republicans sued over proxy voting in the pandemic. Now they're using it to speak at CPAC.

WASHINGTON – House Republicans were furious over the summer when the House made unprecedented changes allowing lawmakers to designate a proxy and vote on their behalf amid traveling concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

They held news conferences. They lobbied their members against using the proxy function. House Republican leadership even led a lawsuit over the change, calling it unconstitutional.

But now it appears quite a few members of the GOP have changed their tune. And a host of Republicans designated proxies, each citing the "ongoing public health emergency," to travel to Florida for the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Since Thursday, when CPAC began its annual conference, nearly two dozen House Republicans have written letters to the House clerk to notify they would be absent due to the COVID-19 pandemic and designated a proxy to vote on their behalf. Others, including several CPAC speakers, designated proxies to cast their vote before Thursday.

Democrats railed about the move, criticizing what they call hypocrisy by Republicans.

"Apparently hypocrisy has become a tenant of the Republican Party," Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., wrote on Twitter, noting the months the GOP has complained about proxy voting. "Let me get this straight: these Members can’t vote in person because of the pandemic, but they manage to attend CPAC?...They were even maskless at this super spreader event! It’s outrageous."

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., agreed, writing on Twitter that these Republicans were skipping a vote on a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package to be at the annual conservative conference.

"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. "Now they are in Orlando proxy voting from CPAC while we debate and vote on Covid relief."