“Look, it doesn’t make sense for the Senate to sit on the sidelines while a lot of other people are going to work everyday and trying to get us through this,“ he said.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) made a similar announcement Monday afternoon on a private call with House Democrats.
“Nancy and I have talked a couple of times today,” Hoyer said of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. „We have decided we will come back on the 4th.”
The House went into recess on March 14 after passing the second in a series of coronavirus relief bills in the wee hours of the morning. But legislating long-distance has proven difficult for both chambers.
It took two weeks for Congress to pass a fourth round of coronavirus aid, an effort complicated by the ability of any one lawmaker to derail speedy passage of bills during brief House and Senate pro forma sessions. And House leaders had to call many members back to Washington to pass the last two rescue bills, despite concerns about spreading the virus.
Hoyer told House Democrats that lawmakers will participate in one vote on Monday evening, coming to the chamber in groups rather than all at once to limit contact and maintain social distancing.
Hoyer expects limited floor activity for the remainder of the week but said some committees will meet in larger rooms that allow members to spread out enough to maintain social distancing.
McConnell said the Senate too will „modify“ its routines but will get back to work in a week.
Asked if the Senate would resume hearings and other businesses as usual, McConnell said: “We’ll let you know how we’re going to handle these things but I’m convinced we can do it consistent with the guidelines that the Capitol physician will give us to keep operating safely.”
In the Senate, floor time is more of a factor than the House because of the chamber’s confirmation responsibilities. McConnell has also repeatedly vowed that the pandemic will not affect his plans to confirm as many of President Donald Trump’s judges as possible the rest of the year.
The majority leader also signaled the next response to the coronavirus won’t just center on Democrats’ and some Republicans’ request for money to send to reeling states and localities. McConnell warned that as the economy reopens „a massive tangle of federal and state laws could easily mean their [front-line workers] efforts are met with years of endless lawsuits.“
“The brave healthcare workers battling this virus and the entrepreneurs who will re-open our economy deserve strong protections from opportunistic lawsuits,” McConnell said in a statement earlier Monday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on McConnell to use the Senate’s return as a way to begin oversight of the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic and the nearly $3 trillion Congress has passed in coronavirus relief.
“There must be public Senate hearings, at a minimum, to examine why the United States still does not have adequate testing and why some lenders in the [Small Business Administration’s] Paycheck Protection Program have prioritized the applications of their larger and wealthier clients to the detriment of smaller businesses that have oftentimes suffered greater hardship,” Schumer said in a statement.
The decision for leaders in both chambers to forge ahead comes even as lawmakers in both parties have expressed reservations about returning to the Capitol.
“There’s a lot of work that I think has to be done, in order for us to get to regular order,” said Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.), whose Queens-based district has been devastated by the coronavirus. “How do we lay out the Capitol so that everybody can remain safe?”
“I’m ready to go in on May 4 but we’ve got to make sure that we’re paying attention to the data and the science,” Meeks said.
Washington is under a stay-at-home under until May 15 as confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths continue to climb in the region. More than 180 have died and over 3,800 people have been infected in Washington. Coronavirus has claimed more than 1,600 lives and almost 37,000 have been infected in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. And D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has left open the option of extending that order if coronavirus cases don’t start to decline for a consecutive two-week period.
The deadly virus has already hit the Capitol complex — multiple staffers and lawmakers have been diagnosed with coronavirus, in addition to nearly a dozen construction workers renovating one of the House office buildings used by hundreds of members and their staff.
Source: politico.com
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