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Democrats may allow proxy voting for the first time on the House floor due to the coronavirus, alarming Republicans who say they are concerned about “abuses of power” if lawmakers vote on behalf of their peers.

The sweeping change to House protocol could take effect Thursday for a half-trillion-dollar coronavirus relief package that funds small-business loans and aid for hospitals and testing.

In a Tuesday letter, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) demanded answers from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“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?” he wrote.

A spokesman for Pelosi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) proposed the change last week. Many lawmakers are elderly, making them vulnerable to the virus that’s infected more than 800,000 US residents and killed at least 43,000.

It’s possible, however, that enough lawmakers will be in Washington to meet a 50 percent threshold for a quorum, avoiding a major rules change.

“We’re asking every member to return who can return,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Tuesday. “We expect that to be about half our members.”

Last month, a report from the House Rules Committee ruled out remote voting by members, finding that the change would not be legal unless lawmakers returned en masse to first approve the change.

But the Rules Committee report found that proxy voting has some historical footing.

“While proxy voting on the Floor would be unprecedented, there is precedent for it in House committees where the practice was in place until the 104th Congress when it was disallowed as part of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich’s slate of changes to the House rules. Proxy voting also has precedent in the Senate where it is still used in committee,” the report said.

Other options available to the House include orchestrating a unanimous vote, or choosing another fix, such as staggering voting times.

Last month, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) forced an in-person vote on a more than $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill. When he rose to make a point of order that fewer than 50 percent of lawmakers were present, a furious colleague bellowed, “Look around!”

The chamber and its public viewing gallery a floor above were full of hundreds of lawmakers sitting about 6 feet apart, who passed the bill by voice vote after shouting down Massie.

Massie later argued he did President Trump a favor by preventing Pelosi from passing bills with few lawmakers there, and indicated he may again force an in-person vote.

For the new coronavirus bill, there’s potential bipartisan opposition. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Monday she may oppose the package if it’s too small.

Many Republicans said they would oppose a move to allow proxy voting.

“I think it silences individual members of Congress who were sent here to cast votes on behalf of our constituents,” said Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.).

“The idea that we’re going to now let someone else vote for us because we tell him how to vote — what happens when there’s a procedural motion that comes up?” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told The Hill. “How do you handle that? It’s supposed to be in person in a debate.”