• Welcome to the Internet Infidels Discussion Board.

Coronavirus - Congress not voting in person?

 
 
 
lpetrich

lpetrich

Contributor
Joined
Jul 27, 2000
Messages
26,852
Location
Eugene, OR
Gender
Male
Basic Beliefs
Atheist
Coronavirus Is in the Capitol. Some Lawmakers Think They Shouldn’t Be. - The New York Times - "As long as Congress has met, votes have been cast only in person. A growing group of lawmakers are pushing to change that in the age of coronavirus."
Under pressure to upend centuries of tradition to respond to a growing pandemic, congressional leaders reluctantly agreed on Thursday to at least study the feasibility of allowing lawmakers to vote from home, after two House members tested positive for the coronavirus and a dozen others were quarantined.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was staunchly opposed to the idea last week, told House Democrats during a private conference call on Thursday that she had asked the chairman of the Rules Committee, Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, to prepare a report on remote voting and other relevant issues, according to three officials who heard it.
Click to expand...
Some Congresspeople are very aged, and that makes them very vulnerable. "Almost 150 members of the House and nearly half of senators are 65 or older, the very group the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising not to travel or convene in large groups."
  • President Donald Trump (R) 73
  • Vice President Mike Pence (R) 60
  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12) 79
  • House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD-05) 80
  • House Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC-06) 79
  • House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23) 55
  • House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA-01) 54
  • Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) 69
  • Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) 75
  • Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) 78
  • Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-SD) 59
But even so, some aged members reject the idea of remote voting, members like Mitch McConnell and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) 86.
 
High level leaders such as Senators and the President should already be isolated for the good of the state at this point. The last thing we need is a bunch of Congressmen suffocating to death on their own lung fluid because someone contagious got into the building.
 
I can think of plenty of cogresspersons who, if they were removed from public life, would greatly benefit the country.

The only worry is they might be replaced by someone worse.

For some that's not possible.
 
Torin said:
High level leaders such as Senators and the President should already be isolated for the good of the state at this point. The last thing we need is a bunch of Congressmen suffocating to death on their own lung fluid because someone contagious got into the building.
Click to expand...

Actually, I'm thinking you have it backwards. Those in charge shouldn't have greater protections so they have as much skin in the game as everyone else.
 
Rand Paul's got the virus. Sorry, but...

:hysterical:

I assume he will not be using that socialist government healthcare.
 
ZiprHead said:
Rand Paul's got the virus. Sorry, but...

:hysterical:

I assume he will not be using that socialist government healthcare.
Click to expand...

He is actually a physician (ophthalmologist), so he should be following a doctor's orders. When you are tested, you are supposed to act as if you have COVID and self-isolate until the results come back. Not only did he not do that, he worked out in the Congressional gym on the morning of the day he got is test results. He claims to be asymptomatic, but that is not an excuse. How many other people did he infect?

Senator Lee of Utah was concerned about his contact with Rand Paul, so he asked a Congressional doctor what he should do. This doctor told him to self-isolate for 14 days. Incredibly, the doctor also told him he didn't need a test because he was asymptomatic. Rand Paul was asymptomatic, and he tested positive. It may be that the doctor was following guidelines for the general public, but he is an idiot. Every member of Congress and their staff should be tested, whether they show symptoms or not. They may not want to go through the discomfort of having a swab rammed up their nostrils, but they can infect other people in the government.
 
Rep. Katie Porter on Twitter: "When I was elected, I committed to being transparent and accountable. ..." / Twitter
When I was elected, I committed to being transparent and accountable. I have kept that promise throughout my time in Congress. (1/4)

Last week, I developed cold-like symptoms followed by fatigue. I stayed home and spoke to my healthcare provider. (2/4)

Over the weekend, I had a fever over 100.4 degrees. As instructed, I continued to isolate in my bedroom and phoned my provider. I carefully followed all instructions to visit my doctor and received a test for COVID-19. I am waiting for results. (3/4)

I will remain in self-quarantine until I have the test results back and until directed by my doctor that it is safe for me to leave my home. I am participating by telephone in Congressional business and listening to the concerns of our Orange County community. (4/4)

P.S. My children are so far healthy and handling things well, and I did make sure to wear a mask!
Click to expand...
Katie Porter seems to have the coronavirus.

Adam Rifkin 🐼 on Twitter: "@RepKatiePorter Thank you for fighting for remote voting, Rep Porter.
We hope you get well soon. 🌸🌺 https://t.co/FRgeH6pJmO" / Twitter
then
Rep. Katie Porter on Twitter: "@AndrewYang Couldn’t agree more. That’s why I’ve been calling for this since last week ⬇️⬇️ https://t.co/W7tE8xScx8" / Twitter

Andrew Yang🧢 on Twitter: "https://t.co/vrrylb7A68 I was afraid of this. Time for remote voting for members of Congress. Don’t let this slow you down. The American people need relief." / Twitter
noting
Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ben McAdams become first members of Congress to test positive for coronavirus - CNNPolitics
 
Maybe we should tie availability of congresspeople voting remotely to how they treat the voters in their State. If the voters in their State can vote absentee with no excuse, then let them vote remotely, otherwise, they are stuck with braving the pandemic if they want their voice heard, just like their constituents.
 
Anxiety grows in Capitol as lawmakers weigh remote voting - POLITICO
“Boy, if we did, I would want it very, very limited,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Senate’s longest-serving Democrat, said Wednesday. The Vermont Democrat added that the idea came up in the Senate Democrats’ conference call earlier that day.

...
“I share the concerns of many members regarding the number of members on the House Floor at any one time,” Hoyer said in a letter to House Democrats on Thursday, announcing that they wouldn’t need to return to Washington until it was time to vote on the next tranche of emergency aid.

...
Pelosi has privately rejected the idea of voting outside of the Capitol in past meetings, as have House GOP leaders, though lawmakers and aides have acknowledged that the situation is fluid. There are both security and logistical concerns about enacting a remote voting plan, which would fundamentally alter the institution.
Click to expand...

Then
Push for remote voting grows as lawmakers fear coronavirus poised to spread - POLITICO
The letter, led by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), urges House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) — whose panel is reviewing the possibility of remote voting — to allow for a temporary rule change at a time of national emergency.

...
The letter includes senior Democrats like House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), as well as several West Coast lawmakers, like Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna, Pete Aguilar and Barbara Lee, all of California.

...
“I’m ready to support remote voting,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) tweeted on Monday. “Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. It is time to bring the Senate into the 21st century.”

...
“We should make this change before the Senate leaves town,” Graham tweeted on Monday.

...
"There is definitely a debate going on, certainly among the freshman, about what's the right thing for us to do. Is it for us to get on airplanes and get on vehicles and get down to Washington and vote in person?" Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said in an interview Monday. "For me, while I think it’s interesting think about remote voting later on, I’m concerned about the security."

...
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has said that the House would “adjust our voting procedures” to comply with guidance from federal health agencies, which have strongly warned against all gatherings of more than 50 people. Democrats have considered ideas like holding the vote open longer to limit the number of lawmakers on the floor at one point.

For the hidebound institution of Congress, that might be as far as lawmakers go, for now.
Click to expand...
I had earlier posted on how geriatric the House and Senate leadership are. Here are some more:
  • Foreign Affairs Cmte Head - Eliot Engel (D-NY-16) 73
  • Ways & Means Cmte Head - Richard Neal (D-MA-01) 71
  • Oversight & Reform Cmte Head - Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-12) 74
  • Transport & Infrastructure Cmte Head - Peter DeFazio (D-OR-03) 73
  • Financial Services Cmte Head - Maxine Waters (D-CA-43) 82
  • Judiciary Cmte head - Jerry Nadler (D-NY-10) 73
  • Intelligence Cmte Head - Adam Schiff (D-CA-28) 60
 
I concede that Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI-08) (age 44) has a legitimate concern about security. But much of the House and Senate leadership is much more vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus than she is, so one would expect them to be more scared than she is.

Just for the heck of it, I decided to make a list of fast communication technologies and when they were invented. Wikipedia has a big artlcle,  Telegraphy, which discusses and mentions a lot of premodern methods.
  • (Preindustrial) Visual signals: flags, semaphore paddles, fires and torches, smoke, ...
  • (Preindustrial) Audio signals: drums, trumpets, guns, ...
  • 1838 - first commercial electrical telegraph: Cooke and Wheatstone (text chat)
  • 1878 - first commercial telephone service (audio chat)
  • 1904 - first commercial radiotelegraphy
  • 1920 - first commercial radio broadcasts
  • 1928 - first commercial television broadcasts
  • 1933 - first telegraph typewriters and printers (Teletype, Telex)
  • 1936 - first videotelephone system (video chat)
  • 1941 - first mobile-phone-like system (walkie talkie)
  • 1950 - first commercial cable-television operations
  • Late 1950's - first in-service computer networks
  • 1962 - first user-to-user messaging (e-mail), though inside of a multiuser computer
  • 1969 - the original ARPANET, a four-node packet-switched network and an Internet predecessor, goes into service
  • 1971 - first over-network e-mail in ARPANET
  • 1973 - first online text-chat system
  • 1973 - first handheld mobile phones
  • 1979 - first over-a-network messageboard system
  • 1979 - first commercial cellular network (what mobile phones use)
  • 1979 - first commercial online service providers
  • 1989 - first commercial Internet service providers
  • 1981 - first commercial computer with a graphical user interface
  • 1991 - first over-the-Internet hypertext system (the WWW)
  • 1991 - first over-the-Internet telephone system (audio chat)
  • 1992 - first over-the-Internet videotelephone system (video chat)
  • 2007 - first generalized smartphones (iPhone, then Android)
Some major social-network sites:
  • 2004 - Facebook
  • 2005 - Reddit
  • 2006 - Twitter
  • 2010 - Instagram
To illustrate the extremes of the spectrum, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now 80, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be 31 later this year.

For much of NP's life, the only readily-available fast communication system was the telephone. Not many people installed Telex systems in their homes, let alone videophone ones.

Readily-available computerized high-speed communication started in 1979, with CompuServe and the like. One would dial in to a server and at one's only interface was text. That happened when NP was 39, and by the time AOC was born, there was already a thriving culture of online services and Internet use. But there does not seem much evidence that NP was very involved with early desktop computers, let alone online services or the early Internet. But when AOC was 20 and NP was 69, the Internet had gotten into roughly the form that it is today.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom