T.J. Kirkpatrick / The New York Times
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who said he would self-quarantine after learning that he had interacted at a recent conservative conference with a person who has tested positive for the coronavirus, walks off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland after accompanying President Donald Trump from Florida, March 9, 2020. With multiple lawmakers reporting potential exposure to the coronavirus on Monday, Congress faced difficult questions about whether to curtail its activities in the coming days.
Tuesday, March 10, 2020 | 2 a.m.
WASHINGTON — With multiple lawmakers reporting potential exposure to the coronavirus on Monday, Congress faced difficult questions about whether to curtail its activities in the coming days, a step leaders are resisting even as fears rise.
Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., said Monday that she was closing her offices in Washington for a week after meeting there with a person who later tested positive for the virus.
Her announcement came as three Republican representatives, Reps. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, Doug Collins of Georgia and Matt Gaetz of Florida — two of whom have spent time with President Donald Trump in recent days — said they would self-quarantine after being informed that they had interacted at the Conservative Political Action Conference with someone who has tested positive. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, both Republicans, took similar steps after earlier coming into contact with the same person.
The incidents underscored the balancing act congressional leaders confront in protecting themselves, their staffs and the thousands of people who move through the Capitol complex each day without unsettling a public that is accustomed to seeing its government working in times of crisis.
For now, leaders in the House and Senate have put off questions of curtailing public access to the Capitol or even canceling legislative session, but have begun preparing lawmakers and their staffs for potential disruptions. Individual lawmakers have called off large group gatherings and instituted new bans on shaking hands.
“We always have to measure what the impact of what we are doing is,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday during a visit to Boston. “And we don’t want to instill fear. We want to take precautions. We want prevention, but we don’t want panic. And again, we will make judgments as we go along about the risk.”
Later at the Capitol, Pelosi rejected, at least for now, the idea of restricting the activities of Congress or extending an upcoming weeklong recess.
“I don’t see any reason for that now,” she said. “But that’s not up to me; that would be a security and health decision by the experts.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Senate majority leader, sought to calm a jittery Capitol on Monday evening, urging Americans to adhere to advice from health experts “with calm and confidence.”
“This is not a time for fear,” he said on the Senate floor. “It is a time to continue calmly scaling up serious and smart preparations that have already been underway.”
But some lawmakers said more serious measures were warranted. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat whose home state of Washington has been badly hit by the virus, said the time had come to consider curtailing the activities of Congress.
“I understand we have to consider all the unintended consequences carefully,” Jayapal said. “But I think this is a building that has a lot of outside interaction, there are cases on the Hill now, and some of us are coming from the epicenters of the virus where flying back and forth seems distinctly unwise.
“Mitigation requires action that may feel early to some, but must be undertaken early to be successful,” Jayapal added. “I do think it’s time.”
Congressional officials have been pressing for information and guidance in ongoing briefings for lawmakers, relying heavily on advice from the Capitol’s attending physician. The House sergeant-at-arms and its chief administrative officer are scheduled to brief Democratic lawmakers Tuesday morning on “institutional preparedness” related to the virus. The Committee on House Administration announced last Friday that it would set up a center to help ready lawmakers and their staffs to work remotely for prolonged periods if need be.
Hand-sanitizing stations have proliferated around the Capitol, and maintenance crews have been instructed to clean restrooms repeatedly throughout the day. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., has put up signs in his office informing visitors it is a handshake-free zone.
About 5 million people visit the Capitol a year, and lawmakers and their aides meet with scores of visitors each day both from their home states and those with issues before the House and Senate. Spring can be an especially busy time on Capitol Hill, as families and school groups visit Washington on trips that have often been months in the planning.
Members of Congress are also frequent travelers, often taking multiple flights per week. And a significant number are in the older age cohort that experts say is more at risk from the virus. Nearly half of the Senate — 48 senators — is 65 or older, while about a third of the House is.
A group of House Democrats and their aides traded private phone calls on Monday expressing concern that older members were being needlessly put at risk by being forced to travel back and forth from their districts for votes that could be rescheduled. One Democrat involved, speaking without authorization to talk about the concerns, said anxiety was high, given the rapid developments related to the virus.
Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Rick Crawford, R-Ark., introduced legislation on Monday that would make it easier for lawmakers to work from their home states, even casting some votes electronically.
Others seemed less concerned. Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, one of the chamber’s oldest members at 86, said he would cut back on shaking hands and disinfect more frequently. But he told reporters on Monday that he planned to hold regular town hall events at home in Iowa next week.
Congressional leaders have traditionally been reluctant to shut down the Capitol over health risks for fear of the message it would send, though they have shuttered public galleries. Pelosi said there was no discussion of barring the public, and in a private leadership meeting on Monday evening, she rejected the proposal from Swalwell and Crawford.
Lawmakers said they were cognizant of the public eye on them.
“There’s a lot of people watching us, and I think it’s important for us to act prudently but not panic,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “That will send a signal to an awful lot of people around the country.”
After deadly anthrax was sent to congressional offices in October 2001 just after the Sept. 11 attacks, the House shut down for about a week, though the Senate remained open, a conflict that caused tension between the two chambers and left the public confused about the seriousness of the episode.
During the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 and 1919 — which has frequently been compared to the coronavirus — both the House and Senate remained in session, although the House could not generate a quorum at times. The House visitors gallery was closed for about a month during the peak of that outbreak in 1918. At least three House members were believed to have died from the Spanish flu.
One top congressional official said that leaders would continue to evaluate the situation and that a decision by the District of Columbia, Maryland or Virginia to impose tough quarantine rules could affect congressional operations. Congress is scheduled to be in recess next week, and for another two weeks in April, and the calendar could be adjusted if leaders chose to extend the break.
“At the present time, there is no reason for us not to continue with our vital legislative work in the Capitol,” Pelosi said in a letter to Democratic lawmakers on Monday.
None of the lawmakers who reported exposure have shown any symptoms, but two of the Republicans — Collins and Gaetz — had close contact with Trump after the conservative conference. Collins interacted directly with the president on Friday, shaking the president’s hand and standing directly behind him as he toured the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Gaetz flew on Air Force One with the president on Monday, where he learned of his exposure to the virus and quarantined himself in a private section of Trump’s plane as he awaited test results.
A flamboyant ally of Trump, Gaetz turned heads last week when he wore a gas mask on the House floor before a vote on an emergency spending bill to pay for stepped-up response to the virus. Meadows, who is stepping down to become Trump’s chief of staff, said he had tested negative for the virus but would remain quarantined for a few days anyway.
