(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Just as soon as I was happy with Congress for striking a major deal to help the U.S. cope with the economic devastation brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, we get news that the Senate is eager to run away:
This is nuts. The Senate should say in Washington. The House of Representatives should return to Washington. And both should stay in Washington for the duration of the crisis.
In normal times, I’m the first to defend the practice of giving members of Congress time to work in their districts. Congressional recess isn’t vacation. Lawmakers meet with constituents and with district groups, facilitating the communication that is essential to healthy representation. It allows them to explain, in person, what they’ve been doing in Washington, and it gives citizens the chance to tell their representatives about their grievances and their demands on the government. Yes, a lot of that can happen remotely and through district staff, but direct one-on-one time in the district remains meaningful. It’s also a bit of an equalizer. Wealthy and well-organized constituents and interest groups can either travel to Washington themselves or pay someone to represent them directly to members of the House and Senate. District time gives everyone else an opportunity.
And yes, I’ll defend overseas travel during normal recesses, too. Junkets can be a perk of the job for those who like travel, but they really do educate Congress members about the rest of the world, so they — and their constituents — don’t have to rely only on the president and the executive branch.
Needless to say, little or none of that will be happening over the next month.
No, Congress shouldn’t be meeting in normal session. Members should be practicing the same distancing measures that the rest of us are subject to. But they need to be in Washington anyway.
For one thing, there’s no way of knowing when some emergency measure will be needed. Congress can act without an actual quorum if everyone agrees to do so, but it’s certainly possible that they won’t be able to get unanimous consent for something that almost everyone thinks is urgently needed. If that’s the case, more members of Congress would have to return rapidly, something that may be difficult to do depending on just how dire circumstances get.
It’s not just about passing emergency bills, but also about shaping them. Leaders of the House and Senate are always going to have a lot to say about the content of these kinds of bills, but when the bulk of the membership is out of town, then the leadership will have even more unsupervised leeway. That can help things happen fast, but it can also yield less responsible, and less democratic, bills.
Congress’s job is to hear what’s happening in all 50 states and all 435 districts (plus Puerto Rico, Washington D.C, and a few other jurisdictions with nonvoting representation) and to put it on the national agenda. There will eventually have to be additional relief bills on top of the $2 trillion stimulus package that’s expected to pass this week. Now is the time for individual members to start working on what will need to be done. It’s also the time for the various congressional committees to gather information about the next round of problems and needs. They probably won’t be able to hold regular hearings, but they can figure out how to substitute for that. It will be easier to do that if everybody’s in Washington instead of scattered around the U.S.
There’s also an urgent need for oversight on implementation and administration of the three emergency relief bills that have been passed so far (that is, once the current deal becomes law). That’s trillions of dollars that’s being spent, and it’s the job of Congress to devise ways to make sure it’s being spent well. A handful of congressional leaders can’t do that; it takes the committees and subcommittees who know their particular areas. It’s also more important than ever to oversee the executive branch as a whole. Not just because some officials might try to take advantage of the current situation to act corruptly, but mainly because many bureaucrats and many presidential appointees just aren’t going to know how to handle their normal responsibilities during a crisis of such historic proportions, and congressional oversight can help spread best practices and deter mistakes.
Congress should have prepared better long ago for keeping the government going during extraordinary national disruptions. But now, with the emergency here, is no time to disperse for who knows how long. Yes, it may be a hardship for some lawmakers to stay in Washington (and I’d support spending money to help those members if needed), but that’s what they signed up for. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should keep Congress in session and tell their members to stick around until the emergency is over.
Of course, it's still not exactly egalitarian; members of Congress don't exactly meet with a random subset of all constituents at home, either. But they do interact personally with plenty of people who can't hire a lobbyist or travel to Washington themselves. And most of them do hold at least occasional events that are open to everyone who wants.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.
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