Caution dictates how tradition-bound Senate adapts to coronavirus pandemic

WASHINGTON - Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., spent most of the week hunkered down at his Washington home, working by phone and beaming into hearings by video to question witnesses.

"I hope that's not the new normal," Leahy said Thursday.

But the longest-serving active senator, first elected in 1974, is painfully aware of why it has come to this. When Leahy celebrated his 80th birthday five weeks ago with cake and ice cream, most of his family stayed on the far end of the driveway, grandchildren unable to hug their emotional grandfather.

All these precautions, from skipping votes to avoiding contact with family, are part of the personal struggle that Leahy and most senators have gone through as they grapple with the deadly coronavirus. They're tackling the legislative response to the health and economic crises, while also trying to shift their own personal habits to avoid contracting or spreading the virus - particularly with its lethal targeting of the elderly, a group that is in large numbers in Congress.

"Just being careful," Leahy said Thursday, during his sole visit to the Capitol. He showed up after most others had left, a dark mask covering most of the lower half of his face.

It's almost an exact echo of Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who won her seat in 2018 and has been a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump.

In contrast to the maskless bravado of White House events, Blackburn dons a mask and gloves to walk through the Capitol complex. She watched her committee hearings in her office, using the video function to question witnesses.

"I'm careful," Blackburn, 67, said Thursday.

A half-dozen senators missed all four votes on the Senate floor during the week, including a few who publicly said they wanted to be more careful about the conditions around Washington, which still has not seen a downward trend in new coronavirus cases. Those included Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., 69, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, 67, who from afar managed to help run committee hearings as the ranking member of a pair of key panels.

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., 65, missed the entire week after experiencing virus-induced woes of travel with so few flights available. Weather canceled his Monday flight, and mechanical issues on Tuesday made it impossible to reach his one connection heading to Washington on time.

So, according to an aide, it made more sense to work from home all week. He participated via video at a Wednesday hearing - on the aviation industry.

This new normal has left some in the tradition-bound Senate celebrating these advancements.

"We could use technology more probably, to speed up our work, and we should. And I enjoyed it. You know, who knows, maybe the U.S. Senate will learn to work like the women have worked for decades, all the multitasking, doing more than one thing at a time," Blackburn said.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, pumping her left arm for emphasis, recounted how she jousted with Trump's nominee for an elite judicial bench over video at Wednesday's hearing.

"Oh, I definitely was engaged, if you watched it," said Hirono, 72, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2017. "I think you could tell that I was very engaged. So I'm glad that we got the option of doing a remote hearing."

But others just miss looking a committee witness in the eye and seeing the body language of Senate colleagues as the answers flow forth.

"I was a trial lawyer - I'm used to looking at the person and asking questions," Leahy explained, saying he did not feel fully engaged as he watched over video. "Not the way I'd like to be, not the way I'd like to be. I hope this is very temporary."

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, 62, attended Thursday's health committee hearing in person to see how it worked with others appearing on video, to plan hearings that she will chair for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

"I find that I'm able to really focus when I'm there instead of being able to wander around and kind of carry my phone and listen," Murkowksi said. She marveled at the idea that the Senate had moved ahead of the House - where a partisan battle over remote participation has left committees mostly silent - in terms of technological advances.

"The ones that still do an oral roll call with a pencil and an eraser if you want to change your vote," Murkowski said of the Senate. "Who would have thought that we would be the technology leaders here? But I think we're doing a pretty good job."

The bipartisan duo leading the push to change rules and allow for remote voting have their own experience with the deadly virus. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, 64, said in a late March interview that a friend had died of covid-19, and in a floor speech Monday, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., 75, said a family member had died of the disease.

Some Republicans are willing to consider changes to allow committees to have video voting.

"Depending on how long this crisis goes, it may just be a practical consideration," said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., 59, who spent 20 years doing telework in the private sector.

Making the change, just during this crisis, might be the sort of technological advancement that makes the Senate more efficient, Tillis said Thursday. "I think we're going to look back on this and say, 'There's a lot of things we can learn from this.' "

Yet even some Democrats, who were more inclined to use the social-distance option of video appearances, have some caution about technology. "I think this is one of those things that we have to evaluate as we continue. There are still some concerns that I have," said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., 51.

Booker and Tillis agreed on one thing: their commutes. Each senator chose to drive to Washington, for safety and because traffic on I-95 is so light.

"Back and forth to Jersey. At least I am now, I'll consider the train later," Booker said.

"Normally, it's a 61/2- to 7-hour drive," said Tillis, who flies most of the time. "It was 5 hours and 15 minutes Monday. Sadly, I'm looking forward to the traffic jams."

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