After three weeks in the Capitol, the Senate has not turned into the coronavirus hot spot that some feared.
Only one staffer is known to have tested positive, forcing Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) into quarantine. Democrats still say it’s not worth the risk since the Senate isn’t fully concentrating on coronavirus. But everyone’s worst-case scenario has not been realized — and it’s got Senate Republicans mocking House Democrats for implementing an unprecedented new system of proxy voting amid the pandemic.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is feeling increasingly comfortable that his plan to bring back the Senate is paying off, so much so that he likened Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to allow some remote voting to “ballot harvesting” in a phone call with House Republicans this week, according to a source familiar with the call.
Proxy voting, said Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), is “not going to happen here.”
The Senate continues to hold regular, lengthy roll-call votes. Some senators merely pop their head in the chamber to vote. Others have decided to return strategically or not at all; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hasn’t voted since March.
The Senate’s new normal is essentially a preview of what the rest of America will find when they finally go back to the office. The chamber is operating with a skeletal staff and lawmakers are doing a good chunk of their work remotely. Hearings are held in empty committee rooms with witnesses testifying virtually. Senators are opening elevator doors with their knees and practicing social distancing. Masks and hand sanitizer are widely available.
But the Senate is conducting its business — grinding through nominations, conducting oversight and passing legislation, including to renew federal surveillance authorities.
Still, whether it was worth it to fly in 100 senators, many elderly and at higher risk of coronavirus, has become almost an entirely partisan question. Democrats say the GOP focus on stocking the judiciary and Trump administration with conservatives — while declining to approve a fifth round coronavirus relief — is a waste of time. Simply being in session endangers everyone that keeps the building running, from maintenance workers to food workers to the police that guard the Capitol around the clock.
“Everything that we have done we could have done remotely,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). The Senate has put a “lot of good, hardworking people in danger”
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician, retorted: “To the degree that no one’s gotten ill, we’re safely opening. We cannot stay locked down for 18 months.”
To Republicans, the confirmation of a new director of national intelligence, several lifetime judicial appointments and a smattering of coronavirus hearings has been worthwhile. They did not approve new coronavirus-related legislation, though they say that day is coming. At a minimum, they expect to loosen restrictions on small business aid when they come back in June.
There’s also been something fulfilling for the GOP about resuming thrice-weekly party lunches, at a distance, in the Hart Building. McConnell governs his caucus by listening to his members, and the lunches have amounted to key strategy sessions. President Donald Trump has even visited for a pep rally.
“I hope hand lotion doesn’t cause cancer, because we’ve been using a lot of it,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) of the precautions his party is taking. Some in the Senate were particularly spooked when Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tested positive for the virus in March, leading some senators to self-quarantine.
Democrats say meeting in person is not worth the risk and that Republicans are miscalculating about their health. Democrats hold party meetings by conference call or chat with each other over Zoom, declining to embrace Republicans’ attempts to resume their old habits. Not being able to see their colleagues in the normal settings makes their work less satisfying, they say.
“Given the risks they run, that someone could get sick from this? I think it’s not a smart move on the Republicans’ part,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
Sen. Joe Manchin said a decision to resume caucus meetings in person remains “on ice” and that “Democrats will be very cautious” until there’s some form of treatment or mitigation for the deadly disease.
The West Virginia moderate does most of his work out of his office hideaway, calling upon his communications director and a tech staffer to help him navigate the complexities of being both a real and virtual senator. Manchin’s story is typical: most senators walk around without their usual retinue of aides, squirting hand sanitizer on their hands as they roam the Capitol. Warren’s taken to recording her own interviews and sending them to her spokeswoman.
“If we’re going to be careful and safe, we just can’t do the things we traditionally did,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). “But for a couple votes on the floor, I could be sitting at home in Springfield or Chicago and do exactly the same thing I’m doing.”
Republicans have taken being in session to a badge of honor. McConnell regularly mocks Pelosi and says that if essential workers can grind it out on the front lines, the Senate can too.
House members have returned occasionally amid the pandemic, but many pushed for remote voting in some form to mitigate the risk of contracting or spreading the coronavirus. Pelosi has also noted that the House differs from the Senate, including by having four times as many members.
Under the House’s new proxy voting system set to be used for the first time next week, lawmakers can have a colleague cast votes on the floor for them if they provide written permission beforehand. McConnell has raised questions about the constitutionality of that process.
Meanwhile, the Senate will be in the following week, Monday through Thursday, processing nominations, working on conservation legislation and maybe, just maybe, passing a big coronavirus bill.
To Manchin, it’s a “needless” schedule without a better focus on the virus plaguing the country: “For Mitch to do that out of spite, it’s crazy.”
But to McConnell and Senate Republicans trying to defend their majority, it’s just one more step toward normalcy.
“Everybody seems to have adjusted. We’re not endangering our staff,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). “Or you guys.”