House Republicans Plotting Long-Shot Scheme to Kill Inflation Reduction Act: Vote by Proxy and Hope Someone Challenges it Down the Road

House Republicans plotted a long-shot scheme Friday before a vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, with hopes of killing it long after its passage.

The bill was unanimously opposed by Republicans when, and it passed 220 – 207 Friday evening. It will now head to President Joe Biden’s desk for a signature.

It passed along party lines in the split Senate a week ago, after Vice President Kamala Harris cast the 51st and deciding vote.

There was little to no doubt it would pass in a majority Democratic House, so Republicans banked on a long shot before voting began.

Axios reported:

Republicans, led by members of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, plan to get “as many members as possible to vote by proxy” in order to deny Democrats a physical quorum, two senior Republican aides told Axios.

The bill would still pass, but Republicans hope a company affected by the tax provisions in the bill will then sue to challenge the law’s constitutionality.

The plan is someday down the road, a court will overturn the vote, as proxy voting allows a member to delegate their vote to a third party and essential cast it in absentia.

Those votes, presumably, would be challenged and – in the hopes of those participating – nullified, leaving the passage of the bill in jeopardy.

More than 150 House Republicans had proxy voting letters before the votes were cast, Fox News reported.

It is not clear how many of them ended up voting by proxy.

One Democrat who spoke to Axios called the effort “pointless.”

“Federal courts, including the Supreme Court, have clearly ruled that the House resolution establishing proxy voting is a legislative act that is covered by Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill.

“This is utterly pointless theatrics from a party caught in a toxic MAGA echo chamber and struggling to explain its defense of wealthy tax cheats and Big Pharma profits to the public,” Hammill added.

The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to proxy voting brought by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy earlier this year.

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com