WASHINGTON – Democrats controlling the House moved aggressively Monday to tighten their hold over the chamber despite their narrow margin, ramming through a rules package that limits the potential for embarrassing votes and caters to the party’s progressive wing by weakening deficit-neutrality requirements for legislation such as a “Green New Deal.”The party-line vote also extended last year's proxy voting rules, which permit lawmakers to vote remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democrats have freely used the new system, which maximized their voting participation while Republican leaders have urged their members to vote in person.The rules changes come as Democrats hold a bare majority in the House of fewer than a half-dozen seats, the.