Millions of American workers have returned to the office, and most children are back to in-person learning at schools, but dozens of members of the U.S. House of Representatives are still literally phoning in their votes to Washington, citing an "ongoing public health emergency." At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, House Democrats took the unprecedented step to establish rules allowing any lawmaker to vote by proxy if he or she could not attend proceedings in-person because of the pandemic. As the virus recedes and most members of Congress are vaccinated, critics say some members of Congress are abusing a public health policy for personal convenience, politics or other family matters. A total of 103 U.S. Representatives had active proxy letters filed with the House Clerk as of publication. "We do want members to take seriously their responsibilities to participate in a legislative process, to cast votes on the floor of the House," said Molly E. Reynolds, a Brookings Institution senior fellow and expert on how Congress functions. "Figuring out how to prevent abuse of the practice while also making it available for people who need it is a real challenge." Each time a proxy is used, a member of Congress must attest in writing to the House Clerk that they are "unable to physically attend proceedings" for health or safety reasons related to COVID-19. Enforcement is by the honor system. "They don't want to come in unless they are vaccinated and unless others are vaccinated," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explained in March. At least 343 representatives -- Democrats and Republicans -- have filed a notice to vote remotely at least once this year, according to data compiled by Reynolds. The U.S. Senate did not enact a proxy system during the pandemic. ​ During Friday's major vote on Democrats' sweeping $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan, 98 lawmakers who voted didn't show up in person, a review of voting records found. "Graph the number of proxies, and look at how they increase exponentially on Fridays," said Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., one of the most outspoken critics of proxy voting. "It's incentivizing the worst behavior among members, which is to say prioritizing fundraising and deprioritizing legislating." Nearly all House Republicans opposed proxy voting when it began last year, but some have since taken advantage of the flexibility.