Senators, hoping to reduce their risk of being infected by the coronavirus, are discussing the possibility of voting on legislation remotely.
The Hill reported the move would go against a longstanding rule that mandates senators be present when casting a vote.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill, said he has held talks about the idea with fellow senators. In addition, he said Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii have also talked about it..
“I’ve talked to colleagues about it. Sen. Klobuchar and Sen. Schatz have both looked into this,” Durbin said.
“It really gets down to some really fundamental questions about what does it mean to be present — quote, unquote — when you vote and whether or not we could establish a new standard for presence in voting and reflect new technology,” Durbin said.
“It’s time for the Senate to get in the 21st century, and this is a public health intervention. We could have a terrorism intervention at some point in the future. We’ve got to be thinking ahead about how we would respond to that,”
In the House, Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Rick Crawford, R-Ark., have been pushing to allow House members to virtually take part in committee meetings and vote remotely on suspension bills.
The two introduced a bill that would create a secure, remote voting system for members so they could vote on suspension bills, noncontroversial measures requiring a two-thirds vote to pass.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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