House prepares for an opening day unlike any other
WASHINGTON – The COVID-19 pandemic had already led the House to significantly alter its perfunctory opening day proceedings for the 117th Congress. But Rep.-elect Luke J. Letlow’s death from complications of the virus just five days before the session begins on Sunday sets a somber tone for the normally celebratory day.
The 117th Congress begins at noon Jan. 3, as set by the Constitution.
The proceedings will be lengthy due to pandemic precautions, with some aspects, like adoption of the House rules, pushed to the following day because of the time it takes to do anything with members unable to gather all together on the floor. But at some point during the day, there will likely be a moment of silence for Letlow.
The traditional quorum call, speaker election and swearing in of members that kicks off every new Congress will be done in seven groups to provide for social distancing, House Sergeant-at-arms Paul D. Irving and Capitol Attending Physician Brian P. Monahan said in a memo sent to returning and incoming members
Tuesday afternoon.
That means those three events alone will stretch several hours into Sunday evening, at least quadruple the time it takes during pre-pandemic times when all members could gather and stay on the floor.
With those proceedings lasting longer than usual, the House is not expected to consider its rules package on opening day, as is customary.
The rules package will be considered Monday. It was not immediately clear if that would involve one or multiple votes.
The package could be broken up into multiple parts to appeal to different constituencies, as was done at the start of the 116th Congress.
COVID-19 restrictions will also limit the number of guests walking around the Capitol complex.
Only freshman members-elect are being given guest tickets — one each — for the House gallery because of the limited space for social distancing. During pre-pandemic times, the gallery and floor on opening day would be filled with hundreds of spouses, significant others, children and other family members seeking to watch their loved ones get sworn in.
The Capitol remains closed to the public, but “official business visitors” are allowed, so members can take advantage of that to have guests on the grounds even if they can’t provide them access to the gallery.
SAA and the Capitol physician are advising against gatherings, but it will ultimately be up to members to police themselves and follow safe health guidelines.
“Members are strongly discouraged from hosting any group gatherings or events such as office receptions, welcome receptions, and/or holiday celebration in their office spaces — either in the Capitol or in the House Office Buildings,” the memo said.
The limited guests who are allowed in the Capitol must follow the District of Columbia’s testing and quarantine guidelines for most out of state visitors, which include testing negative prior to travel and three to five days after arriving in Washington, according to the SAA memo. The memo also warns members the District could further modify the restrictions.