House Democratic leadership gave in to their caucus Tuesday, and now say that they will not return to work on May 4th as expected and, instead, will delay the next session of Congress indefinitely.
‘House Majority Leader announces the US House will not be returning on May 4, as initially planned,” NBC News reported Tuesday morning, just after Politico reported that the House planned to come back into session as expected, despite something of a Democratic rebellion. “After speaking with the House physician on Monday, [House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)] said ‘we made a judgment that we will not come back next week.'”
“The House will not come back to Washington next week, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer told reporters Tuesday, reversing an announcement he made on a Democratic Caucus conference call the previous day,” NBC continued, in an additional story.
“The change of course comes as members expressed concern about returning to Washington while some areas in the region are developing into coronavirus hot spots,” the outlet said. “Hoyer said the decision to delay the return, which had been briefly scheduled for May 4, came after he talked with the Capitol physician, who said he recommended against taking the risk involved in members returning.”
On a phone call with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Monday, Democrats, led by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) voiced their opposition to returning May 4th, “railing” against the decision, according to Politico. Many suggested Members of Congress, many of whom are elderly, would be at risk of contracting the virus by returning to Washington, D.C, which could become a virus “hot zone.”
Others objected to leaving the families, especially when childcare is largely unavailable and day cares are closed. Although Washington, D.C. is on the verge of lifting its stay-at-home order, states where many Members reside while at work, like Virginia and Maryland, have extended their stay-at-home orders well beyond that. Virgina announced, earlier this week, that parts of the state could be locked down for as long as two years.
The Capitol physician, Politico added, also seems to believe things will take years to go back to normal in the nation’s capital: “the Capitol physician warned a group of lawmakers that they might be ‘years’ away from normalcy.”
But, as Hot Air points out, buried deep in NBC News’ story is, perhaps, the real reason that Democrats aren’t quite ready to return to work: the fourth coronavirus relief package, which they’ve been working on during their month in recess, isn’t ready for prime time.
Another reason the House decided to delay its return is because the chamber is not ready to vote on the next coronavirus relief bill, Hoyer said.
“We will not come back next week, but we hope to come back very soon to consider the CARES 2 legislation,” Hoyer told reporters. He added “that the House will take ‘the time to get that in order’ before returning.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already signaled that there will be a partisan battle over the bill, which is expected to cst $1.1 trillion, and may include bailouts of state and local governments. McConnell has said he does not want to burden taxpayers with more debt if it could further imperil the shaky American economy, and the Senate Majority Leader has been adamant that he will not allow Republicans to support a bill that bails out state like Illinois, whose massive debt long predates the coronavirus lockdowns.
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