Lawmakers are struggling to adapt to the country’s new socially distanced reality. Millions of Americans are teleworking, but Congress and its rules are frequently out of step with modern technology.
Against that backdrop, calls for remote voting have risen from across the political spectrum. In the Senate, Portman and Sen. Richard J. Durbin , the No. 2 Democratic leader, teamed up to push for a remote voting option last month. In the House, the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucusto both party leaders Tuesday, calling on them to “adjust our governing model” to allow for remote work. Members as diverse as Massie on the far right and Rep.
“And I don’t think that’s consistent with the Founders’ notion of checks and balances and the separation of powers.”of the World Health Organization to appear before his Foreign Relations subcommittee to address the WHO’s response to the pandemic, in particular its dealings with China. But he did not set a date for the hearing, only that it would be scheduled “once it is safe to meet.”Meanwhile, the timing of other key hearings is uncertain.
Lorelei Kelly, a fellow at Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation who has studied congressional modernization for two decades, said the mock hearing was meant “to show that simply that this is something that can be done” — even if rolling it out in the middle of a crisis is infeasible.
Portman is planning to participate with several other members of Congress in a remote event next week organized by the bipartisan International Conservation Caucus to examine “wet markets” where live animals are sold for human consumption, a suspected source of viral outbreaks, including the novel coronavirus. But that event is not being held under the auspices of a congressional committee, and Portman said it will be “more like a briefing.
A Democratic committee aide said the briefings will continue, and the panel is exploring whether it can live-stream the proceedings to the public or publish video after the fact. Some committees have taken some preliminary steps to keep working. The House Appropriations Committee, which funds federal agencies, had already held nearly 80 hearings this year.
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