Senior Democrat casts doubt on House returning next week

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) on Monday said she did not expect the House to return to Washington as scheduled next week.

“I certainly do not think so. I don’t think it’s possible,” she said on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal program when asked if she expected to return on April 20, as planned.

“I have no interest in going back now. How do you get there? Train? Plane?” she said, noting that Congress, like much of the country, was working from home.

“Unless it’s safe, I think we are better off doing our work, as we have been doing, passing bills by unanimous consent,” she added, referring to a procedure that allows bills to pass so long as no present member objects.

Democrats have been wrangling with Republicans over a follow-up to the $2.2 trillion CARES act, which President Trump signed in late March.

Republicans are pushing for a quick bill that would add $250 billion to the Payment Protection Program offering small businesses forgivable loans for keeping workers on payrolls.

On Monday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged Republicans to “stop posturing” and include $250 billion for hospitals, state and local governments, and food assistance in the bill.

Last week, Pelosi said that the House was not ready to take on remote voting, meaning any member from either party could potentially block a unanimous consent package.

“Let us hope that the blessings of technology will give us more options sooner to review,” Pelosi said. “We aren’t there yet.”