Senate declines to debate virus aid
Lisa Mascaro
WASHINGTON – The Senate considers itself the world’s greatest deliberative body, but it’s debating almost anything but the coronavirus as Americans confront a crisis unlike any in modern history.
It’s as if the challenge has created a split screen in the Senate. On one side is a Senate clamoring for a quick response to the outbreak. On the other is the waitand-see Senate hitting pause on swift action and carrying on with non-pandemic business.
President Donald Trump on Thursday said he met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., at the White House to discuss the next steps on an aid package.
As senators prepare for a weeklong Memorial Day break, the difference provides a study in contrasts and priorities, one that reflects the partisan split between Republicans and Democrats and is defining both before the 2020 election.
“You wouldn’t even know there’s a COVID crisis,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York told ABC’S “The View.” “Crazy. It’s just so wrong.”
While the House works remotely, the lights-on Senate has the legislative stage to itself.
Senators confirmed a new Federal Election Commission member, several federal judges and Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe.
In the committee rooms, marquee hearings focused on investigations of the Obama administration stemming from the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday voted to issue a subpoena for its investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, though there’s no evidence of wrongdoing by either Biden.
But despite a virus death toll nearing 100,000 in the United States and more than 30 million unemployed, the slow-moving Senate is proving that even a pandemic won’t quicken its pace.
At least one Republican, Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, pledged to try to prevent the Senate from recessing unless it votes on more aid, particularly to states and cities facing layoffs.
“Now is not the time for the Senate to go home,” Gardner tweeted.
Mcconnell argued that his side of the Capitol led passage of an earlier package that cost $2 trillion. Better to assess how that money is being spent, he said, before approving more. He rejects the new $3 trillion package approved by the Democratic-led House last week as a “liberal wish list.”
Republicans are hopeful that as states reopen, the economy will improve, lessening the need for more federal funds.
But polling shows Americans are concerned about a second wave of the virus as shops and workplaces reopen. A poll by the Associated PRESS-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 83% of Americans are at least somewhat concerned that lifting restrictions in their area will lead to additional infections, with 54% saying they are very or extremely concerned.