McCarthy lays out plan to reopen Congress

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) released a plan Monday to reopen the House amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The top House Republican, along with Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), the ranking GOP member of the Rules Committee, and Rep. Rodney Davis (Ill.), the ranking GOP member of the House Administration Committee, offered four strategies as part of the plan.

“This pandemic has claimed too many lives and livelihoods already. We must not allow the institution we are tasked with safeguarding to be the next,” the GOP members wrote.

The Republicans said that the House should modify its existing practices and structures to allow for the chamber to reconvene amid the pandemic.

The Republicans also said physical distancing protocols to reduce density in the House should be expanded. And they suggest assessing House office buildings and possibly creating temporary barriers, for example plexiglass dividers, to help physical distancing in areas where it is “difficult to achieve.”

Their plan calls for a phased return with committees. Committees should present an outline to the majority leader detailing projected business meetings from the month ahead as well as with estimated attendance levels, the Republicans said.

The information could be used to create a staggered business calendar, with rotating use of larger committee hearing rooms where necessary, they added. Precedence, the GOP lawmakers said, should be given to bipartisan COVID-19 response measures.

The Republicans also suggested that a more hesitant “crawl, walk run” approach toward deploying the use of technology for committee business.