Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), who announced she tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 28, is slated to be present at the Capitol on Sunday for the Speaker’s vote.
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that those who test positive or have been exposed to the virus quarantine for at least seven to 10 days, Moore’s office told Punchbowl News that she “has worked with doctors and is safe to travel.”
Asked later by a reporter if she had tested negative, Moore acknowledged, “I didn’t get a negative test,” but said she was cleared by the Capitol’s attending physician, Brian Monahan, to be in the Capitol and had quarantined for two weeks.
Her decision to partake in the vote comes as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) faces a razor-thin margin to retain her gavel.
The House allowed proxy voting during votes last year and will do so again in this Congress but not until passage of a rules package in a vote after the Speakership vote.
Republicans criticized Pelosi for Moore to appear in the chamber.
“Looks like @SpeakerPelosi’s proxy voting and remote hearing measures are only essential when her leadership position isn’t on the line,” Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) tweeted.
“Well, that would be wrong. I mean, we have two members who have COVID and we kept them home. I couldn’t imagine that she [Pelosi] would bring somebody in here that could cause people problems,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told The Hill.
Cristina Marcos contributed. Updated at 2:38 p.m.