Congresswoman Cindy Axne and former Congressman David Young sparred over Axne’s use of proxy voting in the United States House of Representatives during their debate on Monday night.
Axne has allowed Jamie Raskin of Maryland to cast her vote for her in Congress. Raskin had to do it because Axne was not there. Raskin prides himself as being one of the most liberal members of Congress.
Readers can view a list of missed votes or proxy votes by Axne here.
During the debate, Axne said it isn’t true that she has missed votes. Young’s campaign manager, Andy Swanson, said it is another example of an Axne lie.
“This is just another example of Cindy Axne refusing to level with Iowa voters,” Swanson said. “She told us she was a moderate, then voted with Nancy Pelosi 95 percent of the time, pushing an agenda that hurts Iowa families. She said she would protect our health care, then supports a government-run plan that threatens benefits to seniors and could close 52 rural Iowa hospital. And now, with a long list of absences, she’s claiming that she’s never missed a vote.”
Young explained the proxy voting situation.
“For the first time in the history of our country, earlier this year, Nancy Pelosi, who you voted for as Speaker, jammed through a House rule that was very partisan, and said that any other member of Congress can vote for any other member of Congress,” Young said. “My opponent has taken advantage of that and missed votes and not shown up to work when virtually almost everybody else in Congress did show up to work. In Iowa, if you hire somebody, you expect them to show up to work.”
Axne said the rule provides an opportunity to perform their work in a safe manner.
