IV
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. CON. RES. 5
Establishing grounds under which Members of Congress may vote by proxy
and remotely attend committee proceedings in the event of illness, a
death in the family, jury service, military service, and other emergency
situations, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY28, 2025
Ms. W
ILLIAMSof Georgia submitted the following concurrent resolution; which
was referred to the Committee on Rules
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Establishing grounds under which Members of Congress may
vote by proxy and remotely attend committee proceedings
in the event of illness, a death in the family, jury service,
military service, and other emergency situations, and for
other purposes.
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 1
concurring), 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Legislative 4
Proxy and Absence Accommodation Resolution’’. 5
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SEC. 2. PERMITTING PROXY VOTING AND REMOTE ATTEND-1
ANCE AT COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS FOR 2
MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA-3
TIVES IN CERTAIN CASES. 4
(a) P
ROXYVOTING.—Rule III of the Rules of the 5
House of Representatives is amended— 6
(1) in clause 2(a), by striking ‘‘A Member may 7
not’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in clause 4, 8
a Member may not’’; 9
(2) in clause 2(b), by striking ‘‘No other person 10
may’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in clause 4, 11
no other person may’’; and 12
(3) by adding at the end the following new 13
clause: 14
‘‘Proxy voting 15
‘‘4.(a) If any of the grounds described in paragraph 16
(b) applies to a Member, such Member may designate an-17
other Member as a proxy who may cast the vote of such 18
Member or record the presence of such Member in the 19
House if such Member submits to the Clerk a signed letter 20
(which may be in electronic form)— 21
‘‘(1) certifying that one of those grounds ap-22
plies to such Member; and 23
‘‘(2) specifying by name the other Member who 24
is designated as a proxy for such Member. 25
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‘‘(b) The grounds described in this paragraph with 1
respect to a Member are as follows: 2
‘‘(1) Any of the grounds under which an eligible 3
employee is entitled to leave under subparagraphs 4
(A) through (E) of section 102(a)(1) of the Family 5
and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 6
2612(a)(1)), but only if the Member includes with 7
the signed letter required under this paragraph such 8
documentation as the Clerk may require. 9
‘‘(2) An illness of the Member which would not 10
be treated as a serious health condition under sec-11
tion 102(a)(1)(D) of the Family and Medical Leave 12
Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)(D)) if the Mem-13
ber were an eligible employee under such Act, except 14
that the number of days during which a Member 15
may designate a proxy under this clause on the basis 16
of this subparagraph in a calendar year may not ex-17
ceed 7. 18
‘‘(3) The summoning of the Member, in connec-19
tion with a judicial proceeding, by a court or author-20
ity responsible for the conduct of that proceeding, to 21
serve as a juror, but only if the Member includes 22
with the signed letter required under this paragraph 23
such documentation of the summoning as the Clerk 24
may require. 25
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‘‘(4) The death of a family member, except that 1
the number of consecutive days during which a 2
Member may designate a proxy under this clause on 3
the basis of this subparagraph with respect to a 4
family member may not exceed 4. For purposes of 5
this subparagraph, the term ‘family member’ means 6
a spouse (including a domestic partner) and a 7
spouse’s parent; a child and a child’s spouse; a par-8
ent and a parent’s spouse; a sibling and a sibling’s 9
spouse; a grandparent, a grandchild, or a spouse of 10
a grandparent or grandchild; and any other indi-11
vidual who is related by blood or affinity and whose 12
association with the individual is the equivalent of a 13
family relationship under regulations issued by the 14
Committee on House Administration. 15
‘‘(5) The Member is absent by reason of service 16
in the uniformed services, as defined in section 17
4303(13) of title 38, United States Code, except 18
that the number of days during which a Member 19
may designate a proxy under this clause on the basis 20
of this subparagraph in a calendar year may not ex-21
ceed 15 in the case of service consisting of active 22
duty, active duty for training, and inactive duty 23
training and may not exceed 22 days in the case of 24
service consisting of State active duty in response to 25
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a national emergency or a major disaster referred to 1
in such section. A Member may designate a proxy 2
under this clause on the basis of this subparagraph 3
only if the Member includes with the signed letter 4
required under this paragraph such documentation 5
of the service as the Clerk may require. 6
‘‘(6) The Member is prevented from safely trav-7
eling to or performing work at the location of the 8
committee proceeding due to— 9
‘‘(A) an act of God; 10
‘‘(B) a terrorist attack; or 11
‘‘(C) another condition that prevents the 12
Member from safely traveling to or performing 13
work at the location of the proceeding. 14
‘‘(c) The Clerk shall maintain an updated list of the 15
following information, and shall make such list publicly 16
available in electronic form: 17
‘‘(1) The designations submitted or in effect 18
under paragraph (a). 19
‘‘(2) With respect to each Member who des-20
ignated a proxy under paragraph (a)— 21
‘‘(A) the number of days for which the 22
Member designated a proxy; and 23
‘‘(B) the grounds under paragraph (b) on 24
which the Member designated the proxy. 25
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‘‘(d) Any Member whose vote is cast or whose pres-1
ence is recorded by a designated proxy under this clause 2
shall be counted for the purpose of establishing a quorum 3
under the rules of the House.’’. 4
(b) R
EMOTEATTENDANCE AT COMMITTEEPRO-5
CEEDINGS.—Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Rep-6
resentatives is amended by adding at the end the following 7
new clause: 8
‘‘Remote attendance at committee proceedings in 9
certain cases 10
‘‘7.(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 11
rule, if any of the grounds described in paragraph (b) ap-12
plies to a Member and such Member has submitted to the 13
Clerk a signed letter (which may be in electronic form) 14
certifying that one of those grounds applies to such Mem-15
ber— 16
‘‘(1) such Member may participate remotely 17
during in-person committee proceedings, including 18
by casting a vote or recording such Member’s pres-19
ence remotely; 20
‘‘(2) such remote participation shall not be con-21
sidered an absence for purposes of clause 5(c) of 22
rule X or clause 2(d) of rule XI; and 23
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‘‘(3) such Member shall be counted for the pur-1
pose of establishing a quorum under the rules of the 2
House and the committee. 3
‘‘(b) The grounds described in this paragraph with 4
respect to a Member are as follows: 5
‘‘(1) Any of the grounds under which an eligible 6
employee is entitled to leave under subparagraphs 7
(A) through (E) of section 102(a)(1) of the Family 8
and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 9
2612(a)(1)), but only if the Member includes with 10
the signed letter required under this paragraph such 11
documentation as the Clerk may require. 12
‘‘(2) An illness of the Member which would not 13
be treated as a serious health condition under sec-14
tion 102(a)(1)(D) of the Family and Medical Leave 15
Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)(D)) if the Mem-16
ber were an eligible employee under such Act, except 17
that the number of days during which a Member 18
may participate remotely under this clause on the 19
basis of this subparagraph in a calendar year may 20
not exceed 7. 21
‘‘(3) The summoning of the Member, in connec-22
tion with a judicial proceeding, by a court or author-23
ity responsible for the conduct of that proceeding, to 24
serve as a juror, but only if the Member includes 25
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with the signed letter required under this paragraph 1
such documentation of the summoning as the Clerk 2
may require. 3
‘‘(4) The death of a family member, except that 4
the number of consecutive days during which a 5
Member may participate remotely under this clause 6
on the basis of this subparagraph with respect to a 7
family member may not exceed 4. For purposes of 8
this subparagraph, the term ‘family member’ means 9
a spouse (including a domestic partner) and a 10
spouse’s parent; a child and a child’s spouse; a par-11
ent and a parent’s spouse; a sibling and a sibling’s 12
spouse; a grandparent, a grandchild, or a spouse of 13
a grandparent or grandchild; and any other indi-14
vidual who is related by blood or affinity and whose 15
association with the individual is the equivalent of a 16
family relationship under regulations issued by the 17
Committee on House Administration. 18
‘‘(5) The Member is absent by reason of service 19
in the uniformed services, as defined in section 20
4303(13) of title 38, United States Code, except 21
that the number of days during which a Member 22
may participate remotely under this clause on the 23
basis of this subparagraph in a calendar year may 24
not exceed 15 in the case of service consisting of ac-25
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tive duty, active duty for training, and inactive duty 1
training and may not exceed 22 days in the case of 2
service consisting of State active duty in response to 3
a national emergency or a major disaster referred to 4
in such section. A Member may participate remotely 5
under this clause on the basis of this subparagraph 6
only if the Member includes with the signed letter 7
required under this paragraph such documentation 8
of the service as the Clerk may require. 9
‘‘(6) The Member is prevented from safely trav-10
eling to or performing work at the location of the 11
committee proceeding due to— 12
‘‘(A) an act of God; 13
‘‘(B) a terrorist attack; or 14
‘‘(C) another condition that prevents the 15
Member from safely traveling to or performing 16
work at the location of the proceeding. 17
‘‘(c) The Clerk shall maintain an updated list of the 18
following information, and shall make such list publicly 19
available in electronic form: 20
‘‘(1) The Members who are eligible to partici-21
pate remotely under this clause. 22
‘‘(2) With respect to each such Member— 23
‘‘(A) the number of days for which the 24
Member participated remotely; and 25
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‘‘(B) the grounds under paragraph (b) on 1
which the Member participated remotely.’’. 2
SEC. 3. PERMITTING PROXY VOTING AND REMOTE ATTEND-3
ANCE AT COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS FOR 4
SENATORS IN CERTAIN CASES. 5
(a) P
ROXYVOTING.— 6
(1) A
UTHORIZING DESIGNATION OF PROXIES .— 7
Notwithstanding any other provision of any of the 8
Standing Rules of the Senate, if any of the grounds 9
described in subsection (c) applies to a Senator, such 10
Senator may designate another Senator as a proxy 11
who may cast the vote of such Senator or record the 12
presence of such Senator in the Senate if such Sen-13
ator submits to the Secretary of the Senate a signed 14
letter (which may be in electronic form)— 15
(A) certifying that one of those grounds 16
applies to such Senator; and 17
(B) specifying by name the other Senator 18
who is designated as a proxy for such Senator. 19
(2) D
ETERMINATION OF QUORUM .—Any Sen-20
ator whose vote is cast or whose presence is recorded 21
by a designated proxy under this section shall be 22
counted for the purpose of establishing a quorum 23
under the Standing Rules of the Senate. 24
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(b) REMOTEATTENDANCE AT COMMITTEEPRO-1
CEEDINGS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of any 2
of the Standing Rules of the Senate, if any of the grounds 3
described in subsection (c) applies to a Senator, and such 4
Senator has submitted to the Secretary of the Senate a 5
signed letter (which may be in electronic form) certifying 6
that one of those grounds applies to such Senator, such 7
Senator may participate remotely during in-person com-8
mittee proceedings, including by casting a vote or record-9
ing such Senator’s presence remotely, and— 10
(1) such remote participation shall not be con-11
sidered an absence for purposes of any provision of 12
the Standing Rules of the Senate; and 13
(2) a Senator participating remotely pursuant 14
to this subsection shall be counted for the purpose 15
of establishing a quorum under the Standing Rules 16
of the Senate and the committee. 17
(c) G
ROUNDSDESCRIBED.—The grounds described 18
in this subsection with respect to a Senator are as follows: 19
(1) Any of the grounds under which an eligible 20
employee is entitled to leave under subparagraphs 21
(A) through (E) of section 102(a)(1) of the Family 22
and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 23
2612(a)(1)), but only if the Member includes with 24
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the signed letter required under this paragraph such 1
documentation as the Secretary may require. 2
(2) An illness of the Senator which would not 3
be treated as a serious health condition under sec-4
tion 102(a)(1)(D) of the Family and Medical Leave 5
Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)(D)) if the Sen-6
ator were an eligible employee under such Act, ex-7
cept that the number of days during which a Sen-8
ator may designate a proxy under subsection (a) or 9
may participate remotely under subsection (b) on 10
the basis of this paragraph in a calendar year may 11
not exceed 7. 12
(3) The summoning of the Senator, in connec-13
tion with a judicial proceeding, by a court or author-14
ity responsible for the conduct of that proceeding, to 15
serve as a juror, but only if the Senator includes 16
with the signed letter required under this paragraph 17
such documentation of the summoning as the Clerk 18
may require. 19
(4) The death of a family member, except that 20
the number of consecutive days during which a Sen-21
ator may designate a proxy under subsection (a) or 22
may participate remotely under subsection (b) on 23
the basis of this paragraph with respect to a family 24
member may not exceed 4. For purposes of this 25
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paragraph, the term ‘‘family member’’ means a 1
spouse (including a domestic partner) and a spouse’s 2
parent; a child and a child’s spouse; a parent and 3
a parent’s spouse; a sibling and a sibling’s spouse; 4
a grandparent, a grandchild, or a spouse of a grand-5
parent or grandchild; and any other individual who 6
is related by blood or affinity and whose association 7
with the individual is the equivalent of a family rela-8
tionship under regulations issued by the Committee 9
on Rules and Administration. 10
(5) The Senator is absent by reason of service 11
in the uniformed services, as defined in section 12
4303(13) of title 38, United States Code, except 13
that the number of days during which a Senator 14
may designate a proxy under subsection (a) or may 15
participate remotely under subsection (b) on the 16
basis of this paragraph in a calendar year may not 17
exceed 15 in the case of service consisting of active 18
duty, active duty for training, and inactive duty 19
training and may not exceed 22 days in the case of 20
service consisting of State active duty in response to 21
a national emergency or a major disaster referred to 22
in such section. A Senator may designate a proxy 23
under subsection (a) or may participate remotely 24
under subsection (b) on the basis of this paragraph 25
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only if the Senator includes with the signed letter re-1
quired under such subsections such documentation 2
of the service as the Secretary may require. 3
(6) The Senator is prevented from safely trav-4
eling to or performing work at the location of the 5
committee proceeding due to— 6
(A) an act of God; 7
(B) a terrorist attack; or 8
(C) another condition that prevents the 9
Senator from safely traveling to or performing 10
work at the location of the proceeding. 11
(d) M
AINTENANCE OF INFORMATION BY SEC-12
RETARY.—The Secretary shall maintain an updated list 13
of the following information, and shall make such list pub-14
licly available in electronic form: 15
(1) The designations of proxies submitted or in 16
effect under subsection (a). 17
(2) With respect to each Senator who des-18
ignated a proxy under subsection (a)— 19
(A) the number of days for which the Sen-20
ator designated a proxy; and 21
(B) the grounds under subsection (c) on 22
which the Senator designated the proxy. 23
(3) The Senators who are eligible to participate 24
remotely under subsection (b). 25
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(4) With respect to each Senator who is eligible 1
to participate remotely under subsection (b)— 2
(A) the number of days for which the Sen-3
ator participated remotely; and 4
(B) the grounds under subsection (c) on 5
which the Senator participated remotely. 6
Æ
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