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House Braces for Vote on the $2 Trillion Stimulus Plan
$2 Trillion Coronavirus Stimulus Bill Passes House
(about 2 hours later)
By Emily Cochrane and Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Congress gave final approval on Friday to the largest economic stimulus package in modern American history, a $2 trillion measure designed to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and deliver direct payments and jobless benefits for individuals, money for states and a huge bailout fund for businesses battered by the crisis.
WASHINGTON — Representative Lori Trahan, Democrat of Massachusetts, tucked her two young daughters into bed and began the seven-hour drive to Washington at 10 p.m. Thursday evening. Representative Dusty Johnson, a Republican and the lone lawmaker representing South Dakota, joined three colleagues from Minnesota who caught a virtually empty layover flight.
The House approved the measure by voice vote, after leaders in both parties deflected an effort by Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican with a penchant for using procedural maneuvers to try to block legislation, to force recorded vote requiring lawmakers to register their positions individually. It now heads to President Trump’s desk, where he is expected to sign it.
And multiple members of the New York delegation defied recommendations that anyone who has passed through New York City quarantine for 14 days and traveled to Washington with hopes of ensuring passage of the $2 trillion economic stabilization package intended to bolster families and businesses during the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The legislation would send direct payments of $1,200 to millions of Americans, including those earning up to $75,000, and an additional $500 per child. It would substantially expand jobless aid, providing an additional 13 weeks and a four-month enhancement of benefits, and would extend the payments for the first time to freelancers and gig workers.
House leaders in both parties had hoped to avoid such a rush to Washington with a plan to approve the largest aid package in American history on a voice vote. But at least one lawmaker, Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, has voiced his opposition and said Friday morning that he would try to slow its passage by calling for a recorded vote, prompting calls for rank-and-file lawmakers to return to Capitol Hill.
The measure would also offer $377 billion in federally guaranteed loans to small businesses and establish a $500 billion government lending program for distressed companies reeling from the impact of the crisis, including allowing the administration the ability to take equity stakes in airlines that received aid to help compensate taxpayers. It would also send $100 billion to hospitals on the front lines of the pandemic.
“The Constitution requires that a quorum of members be present to conduct business in the House,” Mr. Massie said on Twitter, adding that “millions of essential, working-class Americans are still required to go to work during this pandemic.”
House leaders had scheduled a voice vote on the measure in order to reduce the number of lawmakers who would be forced to return to Washington in the midst of a pandemic to pass it. Mr. Massie, a member of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus who denounced the bill as a big-spending giveaway to banks and corporations, sought to block that effort by calling for a recorded vote.
“Is it too much to ask that the House do its job, just like the Senate did?" Mr. Massie asked.
“Mr. Speaker I came here to make sure our Republic doesn’t die by unanimous request in an empty chamber and request a recorded vote,” he said.
The plan for a voice vote is highly unusual for a measure of such consequence. Leaders settled on it so that lawmakers who wanted to speak could make their views known and those who were not physically present would not be required to record a vote.
But Republican and Democratic leaders called back members from all corners of the country to form a quorum, and they made a show of force in the House chamber, putting down Mr. Massie’s bid to slow the measure’s passage.
But technically, the House cannot legislate without the presence of a quorum, defined by the Constitution as a simple majority. (The House currently has 430 members; 216 are required for a quorum.) Because Mr. Massie plans to assert that the House lacks a quorum and call for a recorded vote, the House will have to cease its business until 216 lawmakers arrive. (Mr. Massie has displayed a penchant for thwarting procedural maneuvers.)
As debate came to a close, lawmakers began filing onto the House floor and into the galleries above, which are typically reserved for the public and have been closed in recent days to stem the spread of Covid-19.
“Because of one member of Congress refusing to allow emergency action entire Congress must be called back to vote in House,” Representative Peter King, Republican of New York, fumed on Twitter. “Risk of infection and risk of legislation being delayed. Disgraceful. Irresponsible.”
As she spoke in favor of the bill at the close of the debate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi prodded all members who were present to assemble.
Even President Trump registered his disapproval, saying Mr. Massie should be jettisoned from the Republican Party for his defiance.
“The sooner you come,” she said, “the shorter my remarks will be.”
“He just wants the publicity,” Mr. Trump said on Twitter, dismissing Mr. Massie as a “third rate Grandstander” for potentially delaying the passage of mammoth legislation he intends to sign. “He can’t stop it, only delay, which is both dangerous & costly. Workers & small businesses need money now in order to survive.”
With at least 216 lawmakers present in the House chamber, Mr. Massie’s attempts failed and the bill cleared the chamber as lawmakers loudly registered their assent. Mr. Massie and a handful of others shouted, “no!” just before the gavel fell.
Lawmakers scrambled to drive through the night or board deserted flights — many of them red-eyes — though many had expressed a unwillingness to travel during a pandemic as much of the country has sheltered in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus. A handful of lawmakers are infected and dozens more are in isolation, with others worried about potentially exposing their family members. It remained unclear Friday morning how many would be present for a possible vote, but both parties worked to ensure that 216 lawmakers were present before the conclusion of debate Friday morning in order to have a swift vote.
Then the chamber erupted into applause.
“Shameful,” Representative Dean Phillips, Democrat of Minnesota, wrote on Twitter on Friday. “Your 428 colleagues take their oaths to the Constitution just as seriously. But unlike you, they take the health of their colleagues, Capitol staff, families, and communities seriously. Even @realDonaldTrump and I agree on that.”
There is broad bipartisan consensus on the legislation, which passed the Senate unanimously on Wednesday, although Republicans and Democrats also agree it is by no means perfect. In his tweet on Friday, Mr. Trump said Republicans “had to give up some stupid things in order to get the ‘big picture’ done.”
Democrats have vowed to push for priorities that were left unaddressed in the mammoth package, including stronger labor protections for workers. Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, said they would work to correct language that treats the District of Columbia as a territory instead of a state, slashing by more than half the funds it would otherwise have received.
“The option that we have is to either let them suffer with nothing, or to allow this greed and billions of dollars, which will be leveraged into trillions of dollars, to contribute to the largest income inequality gap in our future,” said Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York. “There should be shame about what was fought for in this bill, and the choices that we have to make.”
But as sense of urgency in the face of a national crisis prevailed, prompting most lawmakers to offer their support. The three hours of debate, split evenly between Republicans and Democrats and set to end about 12:30 p.m., grew fiery at moments as lawmakers sought to maintain a brisk pace of statements.
Representative Haley Stevens, a freshman Democrat from Michigan who drove through the night to reach the Capitol on Friday morning, wore pink latex gloves in a nod to the risks faced by medical professionals. Ms. Stevens, whose district on the outskirts of Detroit has been rocked by both the spread of the virus and a series of layoffs stemming from the economic slowdown, was repeatedly ruled out of order after an emotional outburst in which she pleaded with colleagues to “take this disease seriously.”
“I rise for every American who is scared right now!” Ms. Stevens shouted, as the presiding officer, Representative Anthony Brown, Democrat of Maryland, banged his gavel in a futile attempt to silence her. As other members shouted from the floor, the congresswoman pressed on, delivering an impassioned message to doctors and nurses: “You will see darkness! You will be pushed! And our society needs you to stand together at this time!”
To help broadcast the voices of the lawmakers unable to join the debate in person, C-Span, the public cable television network that broadcasts from Capitol Hill, is working with leaders in both parties to “dedicate airtime to House members’ brief video statements explaining their position” on the legislation, likely in the coming days, the organization said in a statement.
“We have members on both sides of the aisle who have the virus,” Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California and the minority leader, told reporters on Thursday. “We have members who are quarantined. We have members who have challenges with their flights canceled. The floor will look different.”
But many still returned to Washington, making calculated decisions on how to minimize their risk. Representative Joe Courtney, Democrat of Connecticut, decided to drive on the advice of his wife Audrey, a nurse practitioner.
“The one thing she was insistent about was that she didn’t want me flying in a plane,” Mr. Courtney said.
So at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, the couple left their home in Connecticut and got into their Ford Taurus with the congressman in the passenger seat, conducting business — including a conference call with one of the governors of the Federal Reserve — while his wife drove. The roads were empty, he said. They arrived in Washington six hours later.
“There’s definitely some nervousness about whether or not there’s going to be a quorum call,” Mr. Courtney said, “and if I was home and missed that, I would never forgive myself.”
Those who do return will find a chamber in many ways transformed by the pandemic.
In preparation for the arrival of lawmakers, the microphones have been removed from the well of the House to guard against transmission of the coronavirus. Lawmakers who enter the chamber must clean their hands with sanitizer and enter through one door, then scrub again and leave through another, as if coming and going from an operating room. Once inside, they kept their distance — leaving several seats between each other — and will take turns voting in small groups.
Each row, Jennifer González-Colón, Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress, said, has a container of wipes for lawmakers to use.
In a memo to House members, the sergeant-at-arms and the Capitol physician urged caution.
“Members should use extreme care and deliberation when making the determination to travel to Washington, D.C.,” they wrote, adding that the physician’s office continued to recommend teleworking for all congressional offices.
“In all cases, members and staff must maintain six-foot social distance spacing as much as practicable when in the offices or the Capitol.”
The precautions in the House build upon steps taken by the Senate in recent days, as lawmakers remained in Washington — against the advice of public health officials to avoid congregating in large groups — to hammer out the details of the legislation.
Votes typically scheduled for 15-minute intervals were lengthened to 30, and gloved staff served food in both the Senate lunches and in the cafeterias, so that aides and reporters in Capitol Hill eateries did not have to touch even the pre-wrapped sandwiches or bottles of soda.
Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, was spotted using his suit jacket to open doors, while other senators used elbows or tissues to push elevator buttons and turn handles. (Mr. Romney later joined the ranks of the quarantined, after having contact with Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, the first senator to test positive for the disease caused by the coronavirus, Covid-19.) Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana and a doctor, was among the most vigilant, wiping down the Senate rostrum with disinfecting wipes and chastising colleagues to “social distance” on the floor of the chamber.
