(CNN) Republican leaders are pushing back on an effort to change the House rules to allow members to vote remotely by proxy ahead of an expected vote on the matter Thursday.
"What are the details of this proposal, how will it avoid potential abuses of power, and when do you expect this proposal to be made public for the necessary scrutiny and member input that changing 200 years of House precedent would merit?" House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday afternoon.
In the letter, he also raised questions about the 2020 House calendar and how committee business will be conducted going forward. His comments come as Republican members are increasingly opposed to implementing proxy voting, which would allow members who are unable or unwilling to travel during the coronavirus pandemic to instruct another member how to vote on their behalf.
House Democratic leaders have said they want to pass the rules change on a bipartisan basis, but as they are in the majority they could pass it without Republican support.
The language of the rules change has not been finalized yet, but it would be temporary and used only for emergencies like the pandemic, according to House Rules Chair Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts.
Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the top Republican on the Rules Committee, railed against the remote voting plan in a phone interview with CNN on Tuesday, saying it would set a "very unhealthy precedent."
Cole said remote voting by proxy is an "ill-advised move" that will garner strong opposition from Republicans, arguing it will "weaken" the institution by limiting deliberation and debate. Cole said such a plan needs serious consideration, but he has yet to see text of the new rule.
"The President and vice president, the Cabinet officials are doing their job," Cole said. "The idea that we can't come in and do ours is pretty ridiculous. ... Most members I know want to get back here. They are not interested in holding out in their districts."
Since the pandemic began to spread in the United States, House leaders have attempted to conduct business through unanimous consent or voice vote — procedures commonly used to accelerate the passage of uncontroversial measures. Approving legislation by unanimous consent theoretically allows most members to remain at home, but it is a fragile strategy -- any one member can object to the process.
That happened last month when Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky demanded a recorded vote on the historic $2.2 trillion CARES Act stimulus package, forcing more than 216 members to return to Washington during the public health crisis simply to block his effort and approve the measure by voice vote.
Proxy voting is viewed as a low-tech option to allow members to avoid travel while sidestepping security concerns some lawmakers, including Pelosi, have raised about services that could be used for remote legislating, like Zoom.
Under the proposal, if members can't appear in the Capitol, they would provide a "specific instruction" to another House lawmaker to cast the vote in the chamber on their behalf. Members would have to give separate instructions for every vote.
"I think it's a terrible idea," Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, said of the proposal Tuesday. "You meet in person, you debate and you vote in person."
"We're a representative democracy and you need someone there representing the constituents back home and fighting for the positions and issues that you told them you're going to fight for," he added.
Jordan acknowledged Democrats can make the rules change without Republican support, as they have the House majority, but he said he and his colleagues will fight against it nonetheless.
"If they're determined to do it and they have the votes, obviously they can get it done," he said. "I think it's just wrong, just flat out wrong."
Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican, argued proxy voting "is completely outside of what the founders intended."
"When significant measures are considered that impact the entire country, I believe that Congress should be in session and we should be held accountable," he said. "There should be sufficient debate for the bill that's being considered and a proper vote cast and accounted for."
The House Rules Committee is expected to meet to approve language for the change Thursday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters Tuesday morning.
Members are likely to vote on the rules change in the full House on Thursday, the same day the chamber is set to take up the next coronavirus relief package.
It's not clear how many members will travel to DC for the votes. On his call with reporters, Hoyer said congressional leaders "are asking every member to return who can return, and we hope that that is a large number."
Some lawmakers, he said, are particularly vulnerable to the illness, and others are caring for family members. Some are concerned about traveling to DC and then having to quarantine themselves away from their family for 14 days.
"We're not ordering members to come back, but we do expect sufficient members to come back so we can have a quorum," Hoyer said.
Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said proxy voting should be viewed as an interim solution. He said it is "an important first step," but he supports going further to allow electronic voting over technologies like FaceTime or Zoom during the pandemic.
He brushed off security concerns that have been raised about using such services, saying congressional business is supposed to be open and transparent anyway.
"There's no secret in my vote," he said. "Our activities ought to be and are transparent. They're not secret. We don't need secret technology, we don't need highly secure technology."
This story has been updated with additional developments Tuesday.