WASHINGTON — Credit unions looking to work with Congress to make changes to the Paycheck Protection Program or to ensure CU interests are protected in any phase IV stimulus plan have a new challenge: Half of Congress isn’t returning to Washington as planned.
On Tuesday, Democratic leaders in the House reversed course on returning to session next week on Capitol Hill and said members will now remain in their home districts as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Rep. Tony Hoyer (D-MD) told reporters that after consulting with Congress’s attending physician and studying Covid-19 numbers in Washington and nearby suburban counties of Maryland and Virginia, the leaders no longer felt comfortable summoning lawmakers back to the Capitol. He said they hoped to return once they were ready to consider another pandemic relief package in the coming weeks.
“We had no choice,” the New York Times quotes Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as saying. “If the Capitol physician recommends that we not come back, then we have to take that guidance in the interest of the safety of the people who work here.”
‘URGENT’ Need
The decision by the Democrats, who control the House, was met with some opposition by Republicans who want to re-open Congress and, in many cases, re-open the country from the current stay-at-home orders in many states.
Many in Congress are calling for changes that will allow remote voting and hearing capabilities using technologies many companies—and credit unions—have had to turn to. Such a change would be historic for the national legislature if adopted.
One Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, tweeted that the abrupt reversal on the House’s schedule only reinforces the “URGENT need to reimagine and modernize how Congress can safely continue to do our critical legislative, approps, and oversight work during this crisis.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) of Kentucky and the majority leader, has announced the upper chamber will be back in session on Monday.
“We are going back to work,” McConnell told Fox News.
For credit unions, like many lobbying groups, much of the work on Capitol Hill is done with staff members and while most are working from home, that work is expected to continue.