Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA) admitted to vacationing while proxy voting last month on “historic” legislation, despite telling the Clerk of the House that her absence was due to the “ongoing public health emergency.”
In a Sunday news segment on Iowa’s WHO-DM, Axne confirmed the reports showing she was on a “planned” vacation with her family when she claimed to be “unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency” in a signed letter sent to the Clerk of the House on August 12, showing that the congresswoman was lying.
WHO-DM played a clip of Axne saying:
The deal is I’m a family member. I’m a mom of two boys and my husband. We had August session, where we were out of session here, and I had a trip planned for eight months and paid for because that was the only time that I could go because we were out of session. Now, Senate finally got their act together, was able to pass something a year after we passed in the House, and then emergency vote was called. I was gone. I wanted to make sure that I voted so Iowans can have a voice because we need the Inflation Reduction Act for Iowans and we needed to make sure we have that vote [Emphasis added].
As previously reported, Axne sent a letter to the Clerk to grant authority to her Democrat ally, Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), to cast her vote by proxy and pass the $700 billion “Inflation Reduction” Act, which passed by a 13-vote margin — 220 to 207.