Back to normal long way off, say state’s House members

Members of the House from Arkansas say they are hopeful the U.S. Capitol can reopen soon, that congressional business, long delayed, can begin again.

But restoring the familiar rhythms of life — on Capitol Hill and across the country — won’t be easy in the midst of a global pandemic, several said last week.

“It’s tough to assess when we’re going to get back to normal,” said 1st District U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, a Republican from Jonesboro.

Lawmakers foresee a return to Washington, D.C., sometime next month. But a complete return to normalcy? That may take a while, they say.

“The 6-foot separation, the masks and the gloves and all this kind of stuff” may be here for the foreseeable future, said 3rd District U.S. Rep. Steve Womack.

The House could reconvene the week of May 11, though that’s only a hunch, he said.

“We’re a long way away from sitting next to each other and conducting business as usual. We may never get back to ‘business as usual’ — particularly if we see another wave of this stuff,” the Rogers Republican said.

Though there may be challenges, 4th District U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman said it’s important for lawmakers to be in the same room regularly. Governing by unanimous consent isn’t a long-term option, he suggested.

“I think Congress is going to have to start coming back to D.C. and meeting,” the Hot Springs Republican said. “The process is not very deliberative right now and it needs to be much more deliberative.”

The House, when it returns, may need to do some things differently, said 2nd District U.S. Rep. French Hill.

“I believe Congress could come back in May and quite effectively… return to business while complying with [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] rules,” the Little Rock Republican said.

In order to satisfy CDC standards, congressional meeting spaces would have to be reconfigured to allow for social distancing.

Some rooms may no longer be big enough for traditional hearings.

“The committees might not be at full functioning, meaning every committee having a meeting every day we’re in Washington, but I believe that we could have the committees do their work and spread their work out among all the meeting facilities that are available,” Hill added.

With so many flights canceled, travel will be more complicated. American Airlines’ nonstop flights to Washington from Northwest Arkansas and Little Rock won’t be available until early June, the company’s website showed on Friday.

Many recent flights have had empty seats, which is good for social distancing but bad for corporate earnings.

Busier airports will be a sign that the economy is rebounding, Hill said.

“I look forward to the reopening of our country when I see more revenue sitting in these airplane seats,” he said.

Womack, who hasn’t missed a House vote since his election in 2010, says covid-19 has upended traditional politics.

“Meeting people, shaking a lot of hands and kissing babies all over the district? We’re just not able to do that right now,” he said.

On Capitol Hill, the virus pushes people apart, at a time when there’s already too much division, he said.

“[It’s] kind of hard to have relationships with people when you are distanced from them,” Womack said. “It makes it very difficult to build the kind of relationships that I think foster the kind of climate that … our country needs right now.”