SALT LAKE CITY — An empty U.S. Senate chamber might be the safest place in America during the coronavirus pandemic, Sen. Mike Lee said in a floor speech urging Congress to get back to work.
“Unlike millions of our constituents, members of Congress are still receiving paychecks. It’s time for us to earn them. It’s time to do our job. It’s time to return to Washington and get to work,” the Utah Republican said in a floor speech Tuesday.
Lee lauded health care providers, farmers, truck drivers, grocery store employees, pharmacists and working parents who are also home schooling their children, and President Donald Trump and his staff for their tireless efforts.
“We’ve seen members of the news media working overtime, even if, as is the case for many of them, they do so only to blame all of this — rather unfairly, in my opinion — on the president of the United States,“ he said.
Lee spoke as a $483 billion coronavirus relief package flew through the Senate. He lamented that Congress has empowered party leaders to negotiate take-it-or-leave-it proposals in secret without rank-and-file members being able to read or have meaningful input. The role of elected lawmakers is reduced to a series of tweets and press conferences, he said.
“I understand that we’re in unusual circumstances, but we can’t let it happen this way again. This is not acceptable,” he said.
Lee said Congress can either stay in recess and not legislate or choose to legislate, in which case it has to convene.
Congress adjourned after passing a $2.2 trillion aid package on March 27.
“That was literally 20 million lost jobs ago. There is more to do. There is a lot more. More than we have ever faced,” Lee said.
The health crisis is too big and the challenges are too numerous, onerous and complex.
“We can’t just give those issues the attention that they deserve simply by sitting in our respective homes,” Lee said.
Congress is scheduled to be back in session May 4. Lee said lawmakers could work and take votes on the floor wearing masks and with social distancing. Senate rules preclude remote voting, but there have been some proposals to change them.
Lee also took a shot across the aisle, saying that as long as Congress is in recess, Democrats are free to politicize and stifle legislation “with impunity” as they did just a couple of weeks ago.
“The American people need to know who is helping them, and who is simply playing politics. We can’t allow them to know that if we’re not in session,” he said.
The government can’t spend another half-trillion dollars every week or two or three and hope and pretend things are going to turn out OK, the senator said. Congress is now set to pass the fourth bill to address the health and economic crisis.
Speaking Wednesday on KSL Newsradio, Lee said he knows it’s not going to be enough, particularly if the government doesn’t find ways to reopen the economy. He said it’s appropriate and important to provide relief to people for things the government itself has inflicted on them.
“But we also have to be honest with ourselves and the country about the fact that we can’t afford to do this in perpetuity. Nor can we ignore the public health and safety risks that go along with keeping people locked inside their homes and not returning to work indefinitely,” he said, adding that could lead to suicide, depression, domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse.
Lee said he doesn’t know when the right time is to reopen Utah’s economy, but those decisions should be left to state and local governments and not made in Washington, D.C.
“Brooklyn and Orem are very different communities, and every community across the country has its own unique circumstances,” he said.