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The “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body” picked a bad time to be less deliberative.
As global financial markets SPX, +5.85% DJIA, +6.57% awaited signs of progress on a $2 trillion dollar stimulus package now in the hands of the Senate, the strain of legislative jockeying and the news that several their colleagues had been exposed to or tested positive for coronavirus, not to mention simply being in session for a week straight caught up with the chamber on Monday. Debate took on an unusually personal tone.
One senator’s request to speak on the floor — ordinarily a simple courtesy before actually, well, speaking — was denied by the other party’s leader. One senator accused another of doing the president’s bidding. And the procedural highlight of the day — a failed 49-46 vote on whether to advance the coronavirus package — left Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell exasperated.
“I’ve been here a while. This is the most outrageous behavior I’ve seen,” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, told reporters in a rare hallway press availability.
For a body that prides itself on being more bipartisan, more dignified and more serious than the House of Representatives, the outbreak of surliness was unusual. While unlikely to affect the final outcome of stimulus talks, which are being conducted largely on a leadership-level basis, it may foreshadow the difficulty of finding bipartisanship in an election year where the U.S. faces twin health care and economic risks.
Jim Manley, a former spokesman for ex-Democratic Leader Harry Reid, said the episodes were the latest sign of the influence of senators that came to the Senate from the House. “What I saw today on the floor of the Senate was just the latest indication that the Senate is becoming more and more like the House, and needless to say I don’t mean that in a good way,” Manley said.
“I have been watching the decline of comity in the Senate for years. As far as I am concerned, it began when house members like (former Pennsylvania senator) Rick Santorum won Senate seats and brought all the cheap stunts that you can get away with in the House.”
It was a Democrat, though, that arguably started the day’s ruckus. Nearing the end of his own remarks, Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York objected to a request from Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, to speak. That prompted another GOP colleague, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, to exclaim “This is bullshit!”
Collins then walked over to Schumer, who still held the floor. “You are objecting to my speaking? This is appalling!” she said. Eventually, Schumer wrapped up by asking about vote timing for the day.
Later in the day, Cotton found himself in conflict with Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat. As Cotton pressed Brown on the floor during Brown’s speech, Brown shot back, “I know you always want to do Trump, the president’s, bidding” and refused to give further permission for Cotton to speak.
Eric Ueland, the White House’s legislative point man who has been deeply involved in the coronavirus talks and a former long-time Republican Senate staffer, downplayed the impact of the rhetorical sniping.
“I’ve seen the Senate in some incredibly challenging moments be able to bring itself together, transcend momentary frictions and take significant strides forward on legislation or confirmations that really belie the passions of the moment,” Ueland said.
Manley, a Senate staffer for 21 years, invoked the caning of Charles Sumner in 1856, to find a silver lining.
“The good news is that while comity and respect for fellow senators is breaking down, at least no one has been physically beaten on the floor in years,” he said.
Jonathan Nicholson is a Washington-based journalist who has covered economic and fiscal policy for more than 20 years
