Frustrations simmer as Congress prepares rare
August work
“I think partisanship and disagreement has locked down
Washington. It’s inexcusable," says one lawmaker of the stalled aid talks.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer stops to talk to
reporters.
“We will not start the August district work period
until we pass appropriate Covid-19 relief to meet the current health and
economic crisis,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
By SARAH
FERRIS and HEATHER CAYGLE
07/31/2020
04:13 PM EDT
Even the
August recess — one of the Congress’s most hallowed traditions — has now been
uprooted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The impasse
between Democrats and Republicans over a massive economic recovery package has
spilled into next month, and shows no sign of ending soon. Hundreds of
lawmakers are being sent home — for now — with a warning they may be called
back with a day’s notice if an agreement is reached. Meanwhile, millions of
out-of-work Americans are set to lose an additional $600 a week in federal
employment benefits in the coming days.
In the
House, lawmakers departed D.C.’s swampy summer heat on Friday filled with
frustration as party leaders in both chambers remained deadlocked over what to
do with the expiring economic relief.
The jet
fumes typically wafting past the chamber on the last day of July has been
replaced by a sense of dread, particularly among Democrats, who passed a nearly
$3.5 trillion bill months ago but now need to explain back home why Congress
allowed a crucial financial lifeline for jobless Americans to lapse.
“People are
feeling a lot of hardship right now. There’s a lot of suffering,” Rep. Ben
McAdams (D-Utah) said in an interview during a final round of votes on Friday.
“I think partisanship and disagreement has locked down Washington. It’s
inexcusable.”
Lawmakers
often look forward to decamping from D.C. in August and returning to their
districts, especially in the critical months before an election when retail
politics can make or break an incumbent. But this year is devastatingly
different.
“It’s even
more difficult to be back in the district because there is a lot of frustration
and anger out there directed towards Congress,” Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.)
said. “A lot of people understand where the holdup is — in the Senate — but
most voters just know that hey, Congress isn’t providing relief.”
House
leaders gave their members permission to leave Washington this weekend as long
as they can return within 24 hours to vote on an eventual deal, if one is ever
reached.
“We will
not start the August district work period until we pass appropriate Covid-19
relief to meet the current health and economic crisis,” House Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced on the floor Friday.
Hoyer’s
announcement wasn’t exactly a surprise. But a collective groan could almost be
heard across the Capitol as his words reverberated through the House chamber.
That means members will need to make yet another back-and-forth trek from their
districts amid the raging global pandemic, with coronavirus cases still spiking
in dozens of states and an estimated 1,000 Americans dying a day from Covid-19.
Some
lawmakers said they may not return for the vote — which would put them at
further risk of contracting the virus as cases continue to surge — and would
instead cast their vote by proxy for the next round of relief.
Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and White House negotiators have made little headway on a
bipartisan coronavirus relief deal, despite meeting for several hours over
several days this week.
Instead,
leaders of both parties have continued their public posturing — pointing
fingers at the other side for allowing critical federal unemployment benefits
and a federal evictions moratorium to lapse, even as jobless claims tick up and
experts worry about the economy cratering.
“We don’t
have shared values, that’s just the way it is,” Pelosi declared to reporters
Friday. Meanwhile, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows took to his own
podium at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue to accuse Democrats of causing
the impasse.
In the
Senate — where the House’s nearly $3.5 trillion relief bill has languished for
two months — the fingerpointing intensified Thursday as senators from each
party made opposing procedural motions intended to ramp up the pressure on the
other. In the end, the chamber adjourned with no resolution, and Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has sought only to pin the blame on Pelosi and
Democrats.
But even
some Senate Republicans — who had, for weeks, resisted a deal — told reporters
this week that they felt uncomfortable leaving for the weekend after the Senate
adjourned Thursday with the unemployment aid set to expire. The Senate plans to
begin its lengthy summer recess on Aug. 10, though that date, too, could be
pushed back without a deal.
“I'd prefer
to stay here today and tomorrow and get it done like we did the last time, but
apparently there's just not enough progress to justify that,” Sen. Marco Rubio
(R-Fla.) said before senators left Washington on Thursday.
“I remain
hopeful that at some point next week, you know, people come back and realize
that we're going to have to do this eventually, so might as well do it
now."
Sen. Kevin
Cramer (R-N.D.), too, said lawmakers likely would have stayed the weekend if a
deal were just one or two days away. But that scenario remains unlikely.
"We
can pretend that we're here working, but if we're just here killing time for an
eventuality next week, I think you have to play up those practical things,” he
said.
Tensions in
the Capitol had already been escalating before this week’s standoff in coronavirus
talks. Last week, Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) was witnessed verbally harassing Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) over her political views just steps from the
House chamber. And some rank-and-file GOP lawmakers tore into one of their own
leaders, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, over disagreements on Trump.
Not to
mention it’s been a devastating few weeks in the House with the death of Rep.
John Lewis (D-Ga.) on July 17 and the days of public grieving that followed.
Before that, the nationwide reckoning over race led to the first real
discussions on police reform in years, but ultimately collapsed amid partisan
disputes.
“The
biggest thing going through most of our heads probably right now is still John
Lewis. He was such a good friend to all of us,” Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.)
said. “To have so many inspiring views, thoughts, remembrances of him, and then
to have the drag we’re in. That’s disappointing.”
Anxiety in
the Capitol intensified further this week after Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) —
who is notoriously lax about wearing masks — tested positive for the virus,
raising new questions about safety inside the building.
That all
comes after a brutal year, with the Senate impeachment trial of President
Donald Trump in February that was over just weeks before Congress was forced to
swiftly shutter the Capitol and draft massive legislation dealing with the
coronavirus pandemic and the economic recession that followed.
Since then,
the year has mushroomed into chaos as a Congress established in the 18th
century struggled to respond to a 21st-century pandemic. Not even the August
recess is spared — something lawmakers insist is the furthest thing from their
mind as Congress struggles to reconcile over a coronavirus aid bill with
millions of people struggling to pay their bills and provide food for their
families.
“We have to
stand ready. We know that we’re actually not going to have an August work
period [until it's done],” said Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.).
Marianne
LeVine contributed to this report.
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