Some House Democrats are still angry at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for refusing to let Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) vote by proxy in leadership elections going on over the week.
Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran whose legs were amputated, is pregnant and she’s been advised by her doctors not to travel before her due date in December. She first asked to be allowed to cast a proxy vote during the leadership elections a week ago. Objections were raised to Duckworth’s requests and ultimately she was denied a proxy vote.
Proxy voting is prohibited under Democratic caucus rules.
Some Democrats, however, are still objecting.
“Our party should be the party that stands for women,” Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) said during a caucus meeting on Tuesday, according to Roll Call.
Pelosi has reportedly fallen on the other side of Wasserman Schultz over the issue.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) also making a plea for pregnant women to be allowed proxy vote, like Duckworth. Pelosi is objecting
— John Bresnahan (@BresPolitico) November 18, 2014
On Monday at a news conference Pelosi defended her resistance to allowing Duckworth a proxy vote.
“The rules of the caucus are the same as the rules of the House. No proxy voting….The fact is that it’s really important to be here, to be in caucus. It’s more important to vote on the floor. If I were to make a fight, I’d vote to have a proxy vote on the floor than in whatever’s going on in the caucus.”
Duckworth hasn’t gone into detail into the internal fighting over her request but she acknowledged that her move to get a proxy vote was turned down late on Thursday.
“I submitted a request to the Caucus to allow for a proxy vote due to my pregnancy. The Caucus chose not to allow me to vote via proxy,” Duckworth said. “I respect the process and very much appreciated my colleagues who made sure my request was considered.”
Previous reporting over the proxy vote fighting has cited unnamed Democratic aides who said the real fuel behind it was related to the internal Democratic race for the top spot on the Energy and Commerce Committee between Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ). Pallone was backed by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Eshoo was backed by Pelosi. Duckworth supported Eshoo.
On Wednesday Pallone won the spot.
This post was updated.
Correction: This post said Eshoo won the Energy and Commerce Committee seat. Pallone actually did. We regret the error.
