Visceral, emotional reactions to this pandemic or anything this serious are generally polar: either denial or panic. It's the moving between them over the course of a week, a day, an hour that both makes us dizzy and starts to settle us down.
But between them, and hovering over them, is a response which is emotional and visceral but also comes from the brain: it is responsibility. We take responsibility for seeking out the best information and acting on it, in our own lives, and depending on our position in life, for others to whom we are in some way responsible, and those who we owe responsibility.
For Members of Congress, that responsibility is for the country and for American leadership in the world. By the end of today (Thursday), we will know much more about how responsible these elected officials are going to be.
That's because the Congress is about to recess, and when it does, it may not come back for awhile. And because the House leadership has introduced package of measures responding to the Covid 19 crisis, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, that will have to get through both houses of Congress in one day. They introduced the package after the completely inadequate measures announced (and garbled) from the White House on Wednesday evening.
The House majority's package includes (according to this Politico article) emergency provisions to create widespread free testing for the virus, paid sick leave for workers, and a number of provisions aimed at keeping food on the tables of America. Medicaid and unemployment insurance are also bolstered. But the story, the only one I could find tonight, lacks more detail.
Though these provisions may come short of the excellent list compiled by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times of "12 Steps to Tackle the Coronavirus," they do appear to constitute a minimum responsible response.
But so far, Politico said, Republicans in the House and particularly the Senate have not said what they will do. Money bills start in the House but of course they must pass the Senate and be signed by the President to becomes law. For this Congress to act in concert so quickly would normally be unthinkable. But not to come to a quick resolution would be irresponsible.
Responsibility has not been a hallmark of Congress, mostly due to Republicans. But that's what is needed today: an epidemic of responsibility.
There were some signs Wednesday this might be happening. Early stories about congressional response to the House proposals as they were being formulated stressed that Republicans were being kept informed and weren't objecting, including members of the cabinet. There was apparently some effort from both sides to create a bipartisan bill, but it didn't happen. However Republicans in Congress suddenly announced they were postponing their bogus investigation of Hunter Biden, signaling a dialing down of partisanship at this critical moment.
What has also been remarkable to observe is how both side have quietly ignored Trump's bombast and even his proposals. His big idea for responding to the virus was for a 100 per cent tax cut for the rest of the year--conveniently until after the election. But Senate leadership and Republicans in general seemed to just ignore him. Government experts on the virus are ignoring him. The states, the cities, the NBA, college basketball, etc. are all ignoring him and trying to act responsibly. Meanwhile, Trump's announced measures, meager as they were, turn out to be even less than he let on.
Trump also reportedly refused to declare a national state of emergency, which would free funds to bolster state and community efforts. But officially this is still being discussed in the White House.
As of tonight there are a number of possibilities concerning tomorrow and the days afterward, but the safest and most responsible course is to pass some version of the House bill. It's up to Congress to take the reigns of national responsibility. They've failed so many times before. But there hasn't been a time like this one.
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