House Democrats to Tammy Duckworth, No Proxy Vote for You!

File this news under “do as we say, not as we do” category.  Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) is a double amputee war vet who is eight months pregnant.  Her doctor recommended that she not travel until her baby is born so she requested to vote by proxy for a vote on leadership.

Her caucus said no.  Now who is engaging a war on women? Could you imagine the outcry if Republicans did such a thing?

The motion was rejected because the House Democratic Caucus rules state you can’t vote by proxy.  Wait a minute!  I thought the Democratic party was progressive, they can’t think outside the box?

Politico reports that it may be about a contentious ranking member race:

The motion was rejected as the rules for the House Democratic caucus do not allow for proxy voting. Pelosi said she did not understand the “fuss” around the Democrats’ decision.

“You’re going to establish a situation where you’re going to determine who has a note from the doctor that’s valid…it’s really a place we shouldn’t go down,” Pelosi said. Adding that the decision “shouldn’t be confused with not having family and medical leave.”

After Duckworth’s petition was read at the caucus meeting last Thursday, other Democrats mentioned they would likely miss the vote for minority leader, whip and ranking member spots. The motion was then pulled.

But the decision was quickly criticized as political because of a contentious ranking member race. Duckworth backs Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) in his race against Rep. Anna Eshoo for the top Democratic spot on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Pelosi is Eshoo’s highest profile supporter and the race is expected to be close.

And, as I’m sure you can imagine, there was some great reaction on Twitter.