WASHINGTON — Lawmakers donned face masks. Congressional staff’ desks had been ensconced in plexiglass shields. The flooring and sidewalks of Capito
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers donned face masks. Congressional staff’ desks had been ensconced in plexiglass shields. The flooring and sidewalks of Capitol Hill had been marked with round panels emblazoned with pictures of toes to point out lawmakers and aides the place to face to maintain a protected social distance — like dance-step diagrams, however for attempting to avert the transmission of a deadly virus.
With the Senate again in Washington for a session that Congress’s top doctor said carried health risks given the continued spread of the coronavirus, the chamber has quickly resumed a semblance of its routine, but with some trappings that cast an eerie pall on the proceedings.
Senators across the country traveled back to the Capitol in time for a confirmation vote on Monday afternoon, with one or two stragglers rushing to the floor in the jeans they wore on the plane. Hearings unfolded on Tuesday as usual — albeit in half-empty rooms, in line with new policies to avert the spread of the virus. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, readied yet another vote on a lifetime judicial appointment.
“Normal,” observed Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, his deep drawl muffled slightly by a gray mask his wife made. “Except it’s not normal.”
Summoned back to Capitol Hill for the first time in 40 days, the Senate, an institution loath to change, found itself doing just that in the face of the pandemic. Though drastic measures were eschewed — a procedure for remote voting, for example, has not yet been established — lawmakers and their entourages took small steps to adjust their routines to accommodate the health precautions necessary to avoid the spread of the virus.
With many of their reliable direct flights to Washington canceled, several senators were forced to drive or add on layovers to reach the Capitol. Many directed all but one or two aides to work from home. The hallways — normally bustling on a Tuesday as senators huddle for party luncheons, reporters angle to question them about the latest developments and the machinery of the Senate grinds into full gear — were noticeably hushed.
Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Republican, and an aide rode the Senate subway in adjacent cars rather than together, staying far apart on a vehicle that is normally crammed with lawmakers, staff members and pages racing to reach the floor. Another aide paired his seersucker suit — a favorite warm-weather sartorial choice in the Senate — with black gloves and a mask, exuding a kind of Brooks Brothers meets the grim reaper look. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat of Arizona, cast her vote on Monday with a finger pointing to her $12.99 lavender wig.
“I feel we’re all each other going, that is bizarre, isn’t it?” mentioned Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, who has not returned to her state in practically two months due to a strict quarantine requirement that might stop her from touring again to the Capitol to vote. “It’s good to get out and see a bit change of surroundings.”
Sparse attendance was mandated at hearings to make sure acceptable distance between senators. When the Intelligence Committee convened the Senate’s first listening to in a month, to query — from ample distance — President Trump’s nominee for director of nationwide intelligence, senators got here and went from the room in rigorously coordinated waves to restrict its occupancy. The listening to stopped promptly at midday to permit time for a deep disinfection earlier than one other panel met within the room on Tuesday afternoon.
The Banking Committee, assembly to contemplate the nomination of Brian D. Miller, the White Home lawyer tapped to supervise the Treasury Division’s $500 billion coronavirus bailout, adopted a hybrid listening to system that allowed for senators to seem in particular person or over a livestream. Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, questioned Mr. Miller from his dwelling in Cleveland along with his canine barking within the background.
“I hope I’m not trying as yellow to the remainder of my colleagues as I look on this display screen to me — this isn’t a case of full-on jaundice but,” mentioned Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, who certainly appeared yellowish over the video stream. “This appears to be like fairly God-awful.”
So did the weekly Republican information convention, which normally unfolds in an ornate space simply off the Senate ground often called the Ohio Clock Hall, however on Tuesday befell in a naked basement assembly room the place the glare of tv lights solid looming shadows on the intense white partitions. The social gathering lunch was moved out of the stately however small, Vermont marble- and black walnut-paneled Mansfield Room within the Capitol to a bigger house in a central listening to room tucked away in an workplace constructing close by. Lunches had been boxed, not served, and there have been solely three senators to each desk, with a field of wipes and hand sanitizer on every.
Senate Democrats outright canceled their lunch and performed it by cellphone.
Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, the only real senator to have examined optimistic for the virus, was one of many few lawmakers this week strolling round with out a masks, assuring reporters on Tuesday that, “of all of the folks you’ll meet right here, I’m about the one protected particular person in Washington.” (It stays unclear, well being consultants say, whether or not antibodies stop one other spherical of an infection.)
However with practically half of the senators over the age of 65, placing them at increased danger for an infection, the pandemic has prompted an undercurrent of tension in a constructing unaccustomed to accommodating for private house.
Within the press galleries and cafeterias, plexiglass shields protected these sitting behind desks. And among the internal chamber doorways, usually closed, had been flung open throughout Monday’s vote so handles might stay untouched, making it attainable to see the presiding senator from the Capitol Hill rotunda greater than 65 yards away.
“Right here’s one for the information,” a Capitol Police officer mentioned on Monday as he pulled out his iPhone to snap photographs of the remodeled Senate basement: crimson and white posters provided a stick determine interpretation of the best way to correctly keep six toes aside, and huge yellow dots on the ground that Capitol Hill staff had measured with a six-foot picket pole simply hours earlier marked the place to face.
Even with the Home but to return, the precautions prolonged throughout the Capitol to a swearing-in ceremony for Consultant Kweisi Mfume, the Maryland Democrat newly elected to complete the time period of Consultant Elijah E. Cummings, who died in October.
As his spouse, Tiffany Mfume, held the household Bible on Tuesday to pose for {a photograph}, a single strap of her surgical masks, eliminated for the event, might be seen beneath. Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California additionally positioned her pale pink masks, which matched her pantsuit and glittering stiletto heels, on her neck whereas photographs had been taken.
The opposite Democrats in Maryland’s delegation had been extra torn about their face gear, debating what to do as Ms. Pelosi seemed on. Consultant Jaime Raskin stored his padded masks, that includes the state flag, securely mounted, whereas Consultant Steny H. Hoyer, the bulk chief, held his blue surgical masks by his facet. Consultant C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger at one level let his Baltimore Ravens masks dangle from one ear as digital camera shutters clicked away.
“I don’t understand how I’m going to get to know everyone,” mentioned Mr. Mfume, who’s about to start a second stint representing Baltimore in Congress practically 25 years after giving up his seat. “It’s going to take a minute.”
Nicholas Fandos contributed reporting.