GOP attacks Democrats for allowing Moore to vote after positive COVID test

House Republicans are attacking Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats after Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) tested positive for COVID-19 but arrived at the Capitol on Sunday in order to cast her vote for Speaker.

“Pelosi is putting the public’s health at risk to keep herself in power,” tweeted conservative Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.).

“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.) added in a separate tweet.

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said it was “wrong” for Democrats to allow Moore to vote Sunday so soon after her diagnosis.

Because of Democrats’ narrow margins, Pelosi can only afford a handful of defections from Democratic rank-and-file members to retain the Speaker’s gavel another two years. That explains why she may have needed Moore, a Pelosi ally, to fly to Washington to cast her vote.

Proxy or remote voting is not allowed for the Speaker vote because the rules for the new 117th Congress, governing that process, won’t happen until Monday.

Moore announced she had tested positive on Dec. 28. But in a tweet Sunday, she said she had completed her quarantine and is “medically cleared to travel and work on behalf of Wisconsin’s Fourth Congressional District.”

Revised Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines state that quarantines after a positive test can be cut to seven or 10 days.