Congresswoman Cindy Axne did an about-face during Wednesday’s debate on WHO-TV. Former Congressman David Young has routinely criticized Axne, and rightfully so, for missing votes at times and giving her vote to one of the most liberal members of Congress at other times.
Let’s take a look at what Axne said earlier this week during an Iowa Press Debate when pressed on the issue.
“I haven’t missed a vote,” Axne said. “I’ve been there. My vote is my vote. It’s disgusting that my former Congressman over here who knows the rules of the House would never allow a vote to not be taken by anybody other than the Congressman, he’s totally misconstruing that and actually not telling the truth.”
At issue, for the first time in American history, Speaker Nancy Pelosi allowed any other member of Congress to vote for any other member of Congress.
Keep in mind Axne’s initial statement:
“I haven’t missed a vote.”
On Wednesday, Young pointed out it isn’t just the proxy voting that is an issue.
“It’s important to show up to work,” Young said. “In Iowa, the grocery store workers, the folks at the meatpacking plants, the folks at the hospitals, in our schools — they don’t have a choice, they have to go to work. They can’t just give it to somebody else to do their job. In Iowa, if you don’t show up to work, you don’t last too long.
“But those are just the proxy votes. Those are many, many other votes she has missed as well. And I never missed a vote in four years. Sen. Grassley, Sen. Ernst, Abby Finkenauer, Dave Loebsack showed up to work. Steve King — they managed to make it to Washington D.C. to vote. She didn’t show up.”
The moderator gave Axne a chance to explain why she missed votes in the spring of 2019. Two days earlier, Axne claimed she had never missed a vote.
But on Wednesday, she remembered.
“Because my plane was delayed,” Axne said. “And right now you can’t even get a direct flight to Washington. So as a matter of fact, I got in a few minutes after that because of all the delayed flights that happened because of the weather.”
Crazy how in just 48 hours Axne can go from never having missed a vote to vividly remembering why she had to miss votes.
According to Young’s campaign, Axne missed votes on:
June 10, 2019 (three votes)
June 11, 2019 (four votes)
June 18, 2019 (10 votes)
She allowed a proxy vote on:
June 24, 2020 (five votes)
June 25, 2020 (four votes)
June 26, 2020 (three votes)
Aug. 22, 2020 (four votes)
Watch the two clips and decide for yourself.
Here is Monday’s sequence:
And here is Wednesday’s:
