Starting a different Congress
Opening of 117th Congress will be different due to pandemic
WASHINGTON — When the 117th Congress convenes in January, COVID-19 precautions will prevent the 435 House members from gathering in the chamber together, so opening day festivities of swearing in members and electing the speaker will look a little different.
House leaders have begun discussing how to carry out the traditions of starting a new Congress while upholding social distancing practices to keep members, staff and Capitol Hill workers safe.
The Democratic leadership team held a call Thursday night to address voting procedures and other details for the opening of the 117th Congress in which several options were discussed and no decisions were made, according to a leadership aide.
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said some things are easier to plan for than others, like the speaker's election.
“Voting for speaker is not a problem, because we can vote the same way we do here,” the Maryland Democrat said in an interview Friday.
Hoyer was referring to how the House has been conducting voting during the pandemic: Members in the Capitol vote in staggered groups to prevent crowding in the chamber, and those unable to travel to Washington can vote by proxy.
More complicated is planning for the swearing- in of members. Members in Washington can be sworn in groups, Hoyer said. But the tricky part is figuring out how to accommodate those who are unable to travel for health reasons.
“The issue was raised before, and the parliamentarian ruled you had to be there. He ruled essentially you couldn't be sworn through television,” Hoyer said. “So I don't know exactly how we're going to do it for people who are unable to come.”
While that hasn't been resolved, Hoyer said he personally doesn't see why swearing- in couldn't be conducted virtually “if we can vote virtually and make big decisions virtually.”
Under the Constitution, opening day of each Congress is supposed to be Jan. 3. In 2021 that falls on a Sunday, so leaders are likely to move the date to Jan. 4 or Jan. 5, which requires both chambers passing a resolution agreeing to the date change.
“We've changed it before,” Hoyer said. “I've been here, as you know, 40 years. I can't remember ever being sworn in over a weekend.”
In addition to the speaker's election and swearing-in of members, the House also typically passes its rules package on the opening day of each new Congress. In 2019 the package was split into multiple votes and passed over two days.
Rules Chairman Jim McGovern, D- Mass., on Friday told CQ Roll Call he's hoping to have a package to present to the Democratic Caucus in a couple of weeks.
“We've opened it up and asked people for their advice and their guidance,” he said. “And everybody has an idea. Some of them are good ideas, some of them are OK ideas, some of them are really bad ideas, but we're vetting them all. So, it's just taking us a little while.”