playbook: IT'S IN MOMENTS LIKE THIS -- when society is at its weakest and most vulnerable -- that we look to govt for answers. When social norms, structures, leisure activities & workplace conventions are upended -- that we expect unity & clarity from leaders
BUT THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM is, at the moment, as shaken to its core as the rest of society. Our institutions have been disrupted. Our elected officials have no certain answers.
There are few figures who have the public’s universal trust. And all this leaves the country -- and, indeed, the world -- with a deepening sense of angst and confusion.
-- THE CAPITOL has been compromised. An aide in Sen. MARIA CANTWELL’S (D-Wash.) office has tested positive for the virus. As of this morning, tours have been canceled.
But before that, thousands of aides, reporters and lawmakers had been milling around a building teeming with tourists who touch walls, banisters, elevators, counters and windows.
Lawmakers -- many of whom are of advanced age -- spend up to 12 hours each week on airplanes, yet stand within feet of each other in committee hearing rooms, on the House and Senate floor and in hallways.
OUR LEADERS can’t say how long this virus will last. President DONALD TRUMP has said that for the vast majority of Americans, “the risk is very, very low.”
Experts anticipate that it will get worse, but what does that mean? Does it mean that we should cancel large-scale gatherings for the next few weeks? Few months? Does it mean that we shouldn’t travel?
Does it mean we should avoid mass transit? Shared rides? Human contact? The guidance from authorities is changing by the day, and it’s hard for most people to keep up.
THE PRESIDENT went on television Wednesday night to explain his new policy for restricting travelers from overseas, but he didn’t announce any new measures to mitigate the spread of the virus among Americans already living here.
BUT TRUMP mistakenly said that cargo from Europe would not be allowed into the U.S., and officials scrambled to clarify what he meant. He didn’t explain why the U.K. was exempted from these strict rules -- London Heathrow is the largest European aviation gateway.
And he wrongly said that health insurers had “agreed to waive all copayments for coronavirus treatments,” when they had actually agreed only to do so for testing. The president called for a payroll tax holiday, which leading members of both parties have already rejected.
CONGRESS, an institution that is, at best, beset by partisanship and, at worst, paralyzed by it, will take a second stab at legislating to help Americans today.
THE HOUSE will look to pass a bill that would bolster unemployment benefits, institute paid sick leave, offer free testing and secure free lunch for kids.
REPUBLICANS told us they wanted to vote for the bill. Then, after it came out, they sounded cool to it. We have no idea whether it could pass the Republican-controlled Senate or garner TRUMP’s signature.
If it doesn’t, that would be a major setback, and would push solutions off for days if not weeks. The White House hasn’t said one way or another what it wants.
-- THE EMERGENCY BRAKE HAS BEEN PULLED on the 2020 presidential campaign. It seems likely that large-scale rallies are over, for the time being. If nothing changes, how will the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee justify conventions in CLT and MKE?
DC IS SET TO SHUT DOWN after today. Congress is leaving town. Fly-ins have been canceled. WH events are being put off. A growing number of the area’s workers have been told to telework.
BUT THERE’S A LIKELIHOOD -- perhaps a certainty -- that the city’s political class will need to snap back into action, and quickly. This pandemic will likely require drastic measures in the coming months.
WE SHOULD NOT COMPARE ANYTHING TO SEPT. 11. But the uncertainty, and the paralysis of our financial markets, our political system and our society is starting to remind many of the atmosphere here 19 years ago.
