Politico Playbook is reporting that as of Thursday morning, House Democratic leadership "has ruled out the use of mobile voting—they'd need to pass a bill to allow it." According to resident congressional procedure expert David Waldman, aka KagroX, they could pass that bill by unanimous consent, something that would probably not be that hard to do given how many members are now in quarantine for exposure to colleagues and others who have tested positive for the coronavirus. They'll probably be happy not to have to return to the petri dish to get their jobs done.
There's a push in the Senate from the bipartisan team of Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and GOP Ohio Sen. Rob Portman to allow remote voting for the Senate. In the press release announcing the resolution, they say that they need to be ready should the Centers for Disease Control advise against the Senate meeting in person, writing "that should not prevent Congress from safely engaging in its constitutional responsibility to convene during a crisis, conduct its basic constitutional duties, and enact responsible legislation for the nation."
We've already seen unconscionable delays out of the Senate, and right now the House is in recess. Bringing it back is going to be a major challenge. It is incredibly reckless for the Congress to be taking a business-as-usual approach to this. Durbin and Portman are right. House leadership is wrong. The Senate needs to pass this resolution, and then the House needs to take it up by unanimous consent. The executive branch is failing the nation right now. We need a functioning Congress.
from Daily Kos https://ift.tt/396O7Qp
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