More than seven weeks into a coronavirus-induced recess, House lawmakers have yet to come up with a plan to either return to the Capitol for regular business or change longstanding rules that would allow them to operate remotely.
The debate is evolving along partisan lines.
House Republicans this week unveiled their own proposal to allow lawmakers to return to work in the Capitol, beginning first with small subcommittee meetings, advancing to larger committee gatherings, and eventually bringing back all lawmakers to vote on critical legislation.
Republicans want to avoid having to vote on another major economic aid package or the must-pass 2021 spending bills without first moving legislation through the bipartisan committee process.
The Senate, controlled by Republicans, returned to work this week with limited staff and employing social distancing guidelines.
Republicans in the House believe the chamber can take similar steps to reconvene.
“This plan is more than just opening up a campus,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, told reporters this week during a press conference conducted by telephone. “It’s about restoring the voice of every American who needs their government to be working during this critical time.”
Republicans are opposed to a proposal by Democrats to change the House rules to permit proxy voting and video committee business, which they said would dilute the power of individual lawmakers and present cybersecurity problems.
The GOP is in the minority, however, and has no control over the House schedule.
House Democrats appear ready to use their majority to pass an historic rules change the next time the chamber meets to consider new spending legislation. The change would allow House lawmakers to vote by proxy for other lawmakers who are not in the chamber.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, has given different timelines for when the House will return, at one point backing down on a plan to gavel in on March 4 after her rank and file complained, and the House physician warned that calling back 430 lawmakers to the Capitol would present health risks.
Pelosi told reporters last week the House would reconvene on May 11, but a Democratic leadership aide said Wednesday no official return date has been scheduled yet. Hoyer said Wednesday the House could return to vote on a major economic aid package “as early as next week.”
The House, for now, remains empty. But Pelosi is often in the building, writing the massive spending bill that is likely to cost more than $1 trillion. She’s consulting with her rank and file via conference call about wish list items to include in the measure.
When the legislation is ready, Democrats plan to call the House back into session and bring it to the floor for a vote, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Wednesday.
“We’ve had numerous discussions with the caucus, with Speaker Pelosi,” Hoyer told reporters during a press conference conducted via telephone. “Speaker Pelosi is talking with the chairman of our committees, with various interest groups, hearing their suggestions. We’ve been hard at work on this for a number of weeks.”
The House may also vote on the rules change, allowing a virtual Congress to conduct business, he said.
Hoyer said he’s “working on a bipartisan agreement,” on holding virtual House hearings and a proxy voting scheme, but signaled Democrats will pass a rules change without GOP support.
“If we can reach agreement, we’re going to do that,” Hoyer said. “But we’re not going to allow the Congress to be sidelined.”
Even as the two parties debate how to get the House back to regular business, committee meetings have started to meet in person in the House.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Departments of Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies held a hearing on the coronavirus, featuring Obama-era Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden.
A handful of lawmakers attended, spacing themselves apart on the dais.
At the same time, Democrats are planning “virtual” events.
The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, which is advocating for remote congressional powers, is holding a “virtual Congress” with two dozen lawmakers on Thursday.
“Thursday’s virtual Congress will be livestreamed on Facebook to show that Congress can and should come together to find new and innovative ways to legislate while maintaining public health guidelines,” Nathaniel Sizemore, spokesman for Rep. Tom Reed, a New York Republican and member of the caucus, said. “Everyone else has adapted, and, for the sake of transparency and oversight, so should Congress.”
The House Homeland Security Committee Thursday will hold a “virtual forum” to discuss health disparities occurring during the coronavirus epidemic.
It’s not an official committee hearing, which under the House rules must take place with lawmakers meeting in person.
Across the Capitol, the Senate is slowing restarting committee hearings and floor votes. Most senators are donning face masks and and are enforcing social distancing guidelines for everyone in the building. Senators are working with only a handful of staff to avoid office crowding.
Some lawmakers say it’s too risky for the Senate to reconvene at this time, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to keep the chamber open.
“If it is essential that brave healthcare workers, grocery store workers, truck drivers, and many other Americans continue to carefully show up for work,” the Kentucky Republican said when he opened the chamber up after a six-week recess. “Then it is essential that their U.S. senators carefully show up ourselves and support them.”
