Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) pressing an elevator button with her elbow. Senators are grappling with how to practice social distancing while at the same time hammering out coronavirus legislation.
Photo: Win McNamee/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—Republicans and Democrats are racing to negotiate emergency coronavirus spending packages that could top $1 trillion, a sprint that requires close collaboration. But they also need to keep their distance to stay safe.
When Republican Sens. Jim Risch of Idaho and Tim Scott of South Carolina huddled with Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California on the Senate floor during an amendment vote on Wednesday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth approached them and waved her hands, encouraging them to move apart.
“I’m going to be the social-distancing police here and ask us to all spread out here,” the Illinois Democrat said. Her colleagues complied.
This week, the Senate is facing up to the realities of crisis lawmaking during a pandemic—a situation that has no historic parallel since Congress temporarily closed to the public during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, more than a century ago. No senators have tested positive for Covid-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, but two House lawmakers said late Wednesday that they had tested positive and were self-quarantining.
Senators are taking common-sense precautions, while also starting to talk about more radical changes to the institution, such as remote voting. All while trying to shore up the failing economy and support Americans who are already suffering fallout from layoffs and illness.
“Listen, it’s a lot of pressure, but I don’t know what else you expect if you run for a job like this,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.). “You don’t run to manage the country during the easy times, you run because you want to be here for the crisis moments.”
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Emergencies can force even the most combative partisans to work together quickly, and Mr. Murphy said Democrats and Republicans are beginning to cooperate behind the scenes, conversing on the floor and in the hallways. But in this case, lawmakers have the added danger of getting sick or interacting with a person who may have novel coronavirus. Many senators are more than 60 years old, making them more vulnerable to the most dire effects of the virus.
Some have already placed themselves in self-isolation after interactions with people who later tested positive for coronavirus. Two such senators missed votes on Wednesday: Republicans Rick Scott of Florida and Cory Gardner of Colorado. The Capitol building is nearly empty, with only senators and a dwindling press corps rattling around in hallways typically teeming with tourists, lawmakers, lobbyists and reporters. Most Hill staffers are teleworking.
Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, age 79, carried a Nikon camera as he wandered the ghostly Capitol between votes, stopping occasionally to snap photos of the nearly empty halls and rotunda.
When asked if he is taking precautions because of his age, Mr. Leahy joked that he has got “a registered nurse who moved in with me, stays with me 24 hours a day,” a reference to his wife. But he added that he wasn’t flying back and forth to Vermont as he normally would.
Although Mr. Leahy hasn’t considered wearing a mask, he said: “I wash my hands probably 20 times a day, and when I go in my office I wash again.”
Ms. Feinstein, the oldest senator in the body at age 86, said she is holding up just fine.
“I’ve been in worse situations, I’ve seen people shot and killed, I’ve found dead people, all of that, so this is not a big deal,” said Ms. Feinstein. She was the first to find the body of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk after he was murdered in 1978.
To follow social-distancing practices, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky doubled the time senators had to vote, from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, and told senators to limit interactions, a request that proved hard to follow.
During the first vote of the day, Sen. Mike Lee talked to fellow Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney while the freshman lawmaker presided over the vote. A separate group of Republicans chatted, with several feet of space. And in the hallways, senators could be seen backslapping each other.
The health concerns have prompted some lawmakers in the Senate and House to propose remote voting, a major break in centuries of tradition opposed by leadership in both chambers.
“We’ll not be doing that,” Mr. McConnell said on Tuesday.
Still, Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) said he planned to introduce a bipartisan bill to allow the Senate to permit remote voting for 30 days in a national crisis, such as a pandemic. Once those 30 days are up, the Senate would vote again for an additional 30 days if needed.
In the House, which is in recess, more than 50 lawmakers sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), calling for remote-voting practices during the pandemic.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R., N.D.) said he realizes it would be challenging centuries of tradition to allow remote roll-call votes. “And yet, and yet,” he said, “if ever there was a time to think about it, it’s going to be now. Because we have this responsibility of continuance of government, which includes us not only being here but staying alive, and staying safe.”
For now, though, senators said they understand that, as elected officials, they have a duty to work, even if it means congregating for voters and meetings in groups larger than 10, in contradiction of current health guidelines. They all say they expect to stay in session through the weekend, until they pass a stimulus package estimated at $1 trillion, to help laid-off workers, small businesses and airlines, among others battered by the outbreak.
“I heard one of my colleagues refer to this as a war footing. And I think that’s an appropriate description of how we ought to be looking at this,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas).
Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), who has two young sons, said he has been worried about bringing home germs from the Capitol every day.
“I don’t come in the house until I have sanitized my hands, take off our shoes, you know, try to change out of these clothes. So, you know, it’s weird. It’s a weird world right now.”
As Sen. John Kennedy (R., La.) spoke to a small group of reporters Wednesday, Sen. Brian Schatz (D., Hawaii) walked off the Senate floor to find his way blocked by the scrum.
“Social distancing everybody! No joke,” he said, gesturing with his hands for the group to make room for him to pass.
“We will get through this,” Mr. Kennedy said, without missing a beat. “We’re all not gonna die.”
—Andrew Duehren contributed to this article.
Write to Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com and Natalie Andrews at Natalie.Andrews@wsj.com
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