WASHINGTON (AP) – The state of mind at the US Capitol is so bad that a Democratic congressman recently passed by an elevator rather than ride with Republican colleagues who are voting against it to confirm Joe Biden’s election..
Republicans say it’s Democrats who just have to overcome it – continue the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, terminates COVID-19 restrictions and make an effort to bring about duality.
Less than 100 days after the new Congress, the legislative branch has become an increasingly toxic and troubled place, with lawmakers frustrated by the limits imposed by the coronavirus and suspicious of each other after the January 6 riots. Donald Trump’s riot. presidency.
Especially in the House, which remains partially blocked by the pandemic and where lawmakers heard shots rang out during the siege, confidence is low, solid facts about the riot appear to be on the agenda, and cautious, exhausted members are not sure how or when the “People’s House” will return to normal.
One new congresswoman said it was “heartbreaking” to see what became of the institution she cherished. In the country she took an oath to defend against foreign and domestic enemies.
“You know, sometimes I just close my eyes and imagine this place as it was, and how welcoming it was,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., First elected in 2018.
A Somali immigrant said she used the handling skills she learned as a child in wartime to enter the razor-capped Capitol, now with armed members of the National Guard, to ‘try to pretend it’s is not what it is. ”
The first months of the year exposed the scars of the historical, unprecedented events. The outage extends far beyond the broken windows and packed walls of the Capitol to the loss resulting from the absence of ordinary routines and visitors that were the daily hum of democracy. With virtual meetings and socially distanced voices, lawmakers have fewer opportunities to talk to each other, share ideas and alleviate fears in the aftermath of the riot.
“The state of mind is toxic,” says Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill. “I mean, it really wants to be in the minority, but it’s even worse when there’s just such a high bias temperature.”
It came to a head last week when a dozen Republicans voted to award the Congressional Gold Medal to law enforcers who defended the Capitol, in part because the resolution called the ‘rebels’ the ‘temple’ of American democracy. Democrats were stunned.
Despite the charged atmosphere, the House continues with Biden’s agenda, and the Democratic majority sets the $ 1.9 billion bill to alleviate viruses. in law without the support of a single Republican. The tension slows, but does not weaken, rapid action on voting rights, gun background checks and other legislative priorities, but leaves the potential for duality with Biden an open question.
One certainty is that the last president left an indelible mark on the legislative branch.
Trump’s trademark of politics is reforming the Republican Party while lawmakers mimic his style. GOP legislators show the uprising mostly merely as a ‘protest’, even though 300 people were charged in the attack. Republicans are rejecting the Coronavirus restrictions from the House, despite public health guidelines urging vaccinations, masking and social distance to prevent a new upsurge.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said few people at masks he attended wore more masks and “the attitude is that it’s time to get back to normal, to return to freedom.”
Leadership sets a tone, and California Representative Kevin McCarthy, R-California, the leading Republican in the House, tried at a recent news conference to suggest that the IDP challenges to Biden’s victory were not intended to defeat the outcome of the election. to change – despite Trump on January 6 calling on his supporters to “fight like hell” when lawmakers confirmed the 2020 election results.
Five people were killed as a result of the attack at the Capitol, including a woman who was shot by police and a police officer who later succumbed to injuries.
Dozens of lawmakers tested positive for the coronavirus, and two elected officials, both Republicans, died of COVID-19, one just before his January 3 oath.
The leader of the GOP has sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, stating that the House should continue normally now that 75% of lawmakers have been vaccinated.
Pelosi replied Friday that the goal is to take a ‘100%’ compliance with vaccinations and social guidelines.
One problem with resuming personal operations at the Capitol is the lack of vaccinations for thousands of staff for the 435 members of the House. So far, only two doses have been available for each office in the House, officials said. Six more doses are expected to be added next week.
The Senate, with 100 members, largely resumed this past spring.
For now, proxy voting of the House, set up to reduce the health risks of lawmakers from traveling to Washington, will continue. Visitors are still banned from the Capitol.
“There are times when I’m very excited and very happy, and a lot of wonderful things are happening,” said Massachusetts Representative Jim McGovern, chairman of the House Rules Committee, which skipped the elevator, when he saw it carrying Republicans. who challenged the presidential election. .
But he said he was bothered by lawmakers who ‘tried to somehow claim it was an act of patriotic people disagreeing? Give me a chance. “
Clearly, Democrats are spending more emotionally than Republicans from the House, who despite Trump’s loss strengthened their ranks in the last election. Their profits have narrowed the way to regain home control in 2022.
A Republican lawmaker, according to Trump, Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, has begun refurbishing the Democrats ‘floor operations by demanding calls for routine legislation, and testing lawmakers’ patience as the protracted domestic proceedings until late at night sessions attracted. In February, the House voted to remove Greene from her committee assignments due to her long history of outrageous social media posts and other actions.
While security fences will be removed from the Capitol, metal detectors remain stationed outside the living room after some Republican lawmakers promised to bring their firearms to the home floor.
Confidence is low.
“Do you think?” said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., among those who voted against the medals of the police. “Look at the metal detectors here – we have to cover up.”
Rep. Steve Palazzo, R-Miss., Acknowledged: “There can be a relationship building that needs to take place.”
Rep. Norma Torres, D-California, said she spent sleepless nights playing the attacking scenes in January.
She said she was hoping for some assurances from her Republican colleagues that they were all committed to the same goal of ‘maintaining our democracy’.
“If we want to be normal again,” she must be better than we are. ‘