PLAYING HOOKY

GOP Rep Caught Skipping Legislative Duties for Bill Maher

The Florida congressman might have violated congressional ethics by having someone else cast votes on his behalf.

Republican congressman Byron Donalds appears to have played hooky and skipped out on his legislative duties for an appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher. Jake Sherman, a political analyst with MSNBC and founder of Punchbowl News, posted on X Saturday that Donalds was at HBO’s studios in California instead of voting in-person on the Protecting American Energy Production Act. The act is part of Donald Trump’s wider “drill, baby, drill” energy agenda, and Donalds might have violated congressional ethics by having someone else vote for him after Congress eliminated proxy voting, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. “We reported in the PM edition last night that BYRON DONALDS was not present in the Capitol yesterday, but gave his voting card to someone to cast two votes,” wrote Sherman on X. “This is an ethics violation. He was in California to be on the Bill Maher show.” In a Saturday X post, Donalds made no mention of the potential violation and instead thanked Maher for having him. “Thank you to @billmaher @RealTimers for a great conversation and thank you to my sister for stopping-by!” he wrote.