Analysis: Since 9/11, disaster planners have been trying to warn Washington of the risks of a government based on stuffing all of America’s most important legislators into one place. Covid-19 is reviving the conversation in real time
From left to right: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Katie Porter, Sen. Mitch McConnell | AP / Getty Images
Still, there are considerable technical challenges and open questions. What if Russian forces that were so eager to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election turn their attention to congressional hearings? What if trolls Zoom their way into floor debate? How do members of Congress working from their kitchens, living rooms, and home offices get safe access to secure documents?
Congress is wreathed in rules, and command of its rulebooks gives its leaders an almost mystical power. And when you boil them down, a lot of those rules are built around the ideal that people literally belong in a room together. This isn’t just a quibble: Everyone seriously involved in the continuity debate has grappled with the notion that it would require adjustments to very basic principles, like what’s considered “present,” or what constitutes a quorum.
“This is a guy who has blown up every norm and tradition in the Senate. To say he is trying to protect the integrity of the Senate is a heavy lift for me.”Fortier, former Continuity in Government Commission executive director, does worry about what might be unleashed. If new rules end up loosening the quorum requirements to too great a degree, he warns, you risk ending up with a small, unrepresentative body counting as “Congress.
Even though Congress tends to see its rules and traditions as long-enshrined, those who have worked on the nitty-gritty of continuity planning for years say they aren’t, and shouldn’t be treated as, black-letter law. Ultimately, Congress sets its own rules—a topic the Supreme Court has also weighed in on, inin which the justices deferred to Congress to determine what counts as passed legislation.
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