(PJ Media) With time trickling away for the Senate to do something constructive before legislators depart for August break, a consequentially timed outbreak of COVID-19 infections has struck.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) led the sick wave on July 10 and was quarantined for a week before returning to the upper chamber. He was followed by Democrat Sens. Tina Smith (Minn.) and Tom Carper (Del.), both of whom are expected to be back at work by tomorrow.
But just today, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) both tested positive for the dread disease and have gone into quarantine.
At the same time, 82-year-old Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is still recuperating from his second surgery in less than a month, in a quest to repair the hip he broke when he fell in his Virginia home.
Unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate does not have any provision for allowing lawmakers to “phone it in” and vote remotely or by proxy. With their razor-thin majority, Democrats can’t afford to be without swing-vote Republicans — and they need every single Democrat — in order to pass high-profile legislation before leaving for their home states on August 8. The timing is crucial because many of them need to campaign for reelection, which will be hard to do if they turn up empty-handed before their constituents. New York Magazine quotes Punchbowl News:
That reconciliation package would need to be wrapped up by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. CNBC describes it as:
If that doesn’t go through — and it won’t without all Democrat hands on deck — voters will get hit with a staggering increase in their healthcare premiums, just in time for midterm voting. That’s not a good look for the party that has controlled the White House and Congress since January 2021.
