We Need a Rapid Response Congress

Mel Gagarin

Apr 3·4 min read

The Founders designed Congress to be a slow-moving institution. In normal times this design is arguably genius, in that it theoretically favors careful deliberation over succumbing to the passions of the masses. The idea was that the lengthy legislative process would produce meaningful legislation divorced from the political zeitgeist. However, in the face of a fast-moving global pandemic that is testing our systems of governance we need Congress to step up and be proactive to meet this unprecedented challenge.

In New York, more people have died in the past 24 hours from Coronavirus than in the first 27 days of March. The rate of virus-related deaths nearly doubled in just three days. If the experts are to be believed, and they should, we can expect to see these numbers continue to trend upward. Any thought of a return to “normalcy” in the near future is wishful thinking. Yet, after passing a 3rd relief bill to address the crisis, Congress has recessed until April 20th. Mitch McConnell, ever the politician, is resistant to any new legislation and wants to take a “wait and see” approach. This status quo mentality fails to see what everyone in the country and the world is witnessing.

In Italy, tensions are already beginning to mount in poorer parts of the country feeling the economic crunch of the extended lockdown. There is no reason to believe that we will be in any better shape as more states begin to issue shelter-in-place orders grinding our economy to a halt. Add to this public health crisis the bungled response by the Trump administration, and it’s easy to see how we may find ourselves in extremely dangerous territory if Congress fails to reconvene immediately and begin addressing the crisis as the threat it truly is.

We’ve known since the deliberations began around the CARES Act that the 3rd relief package would fall short. The fabled $1,200 checks may not get into some peoples’ bank accounts until August, which is absurd, not to mention that you need a Social Security Number in order to receive said relief at all. This ignores the reality that Coronavirus doesn’t care about your citizenship status, and that folks without SSNs comprise many of the essential job roles that are at the frontlines of this crisis. Congress’ inability to divorce itself from the beltway mentality will cost untold lives and undermine the very same policy outcomes the relief package sought to achieve.

Thanks to loopholes baked into the CARES Act, the Trump Labor Department is already chipping away at Paid Sick Leave provisions that will affect millions of individuals, undercutting the policy goal of keeping people home. Any attempt to close these loopholes won’t be possible until Congress is back in session 17 days from the time of this writing. In that time, more people will succumb to the virus, our economy will be strained from the effects of lockdowns and an ailing workforce, families will come under intense pressure to pay rents that have not been suspended, and a bevy of other bills that a onetime means-tested $1,200 will invariably fall short of covering.

In an ideal world, where our elected leaders are taking this crisis for the threat that it truly is, Congress would be in session taking up stand-alone bills to address the changing contours of the crisis, which evolves on an almost daily basis. While Congress has gotten into the habit of addressing natural disasters in a response capacity, often in the form of omnibus bills often laden with pork and corporate giveaways, we need a Congress that is staying ahead of the crisis and on task of helping people.

Initial recommendations that Trump fully utilize the Defense Production Act were rebuffed by conservatives and the President himself, rejecting the notion of nationalizing private industry and citing the evergreen bogeyman of Venezuela as to why it was a bad idea. Not only was this line of thinking dumb, it was divorced from reality. Since then the administration has utilized the act, however scattershot it may be. To assuage the unfounded fears that this would lead to the nationalization of industry, Congress could update the DPA to add a 90-day sunset provision, a select committee to provide oversight of its usage, and serve as a check to re-authorize the President’s ability to use it every three months.

In addition, right now Congress could be working on stand alone legislation to address loopholes in the paid sick leave provisions of the CARES Act, negotiating a meaningful UBI legislation that abandons means-testing, and working out ways to cancel rents for individuals and small businesses as opposed to grants and loans, which only kick the blowback of the financial burdens down the timeline.

In addition, ignoring people succumbing to COVID-19 in immigration detention and in our jails is a ticking timebomb. Congress could be working on legislation to prevent that bomb from going off, because it will be faced with the fallout when it does. And it most certainly will. Reacting then may be helpful for a future crisis of this magnitude, but it’s a problem that is apparent now and does not need to result in needless deaths before it is addressed.

These suggestions are by no means exhaustive, but they are solutions to problems that are happening in real time and would go a long way in putting the needs of people first. While Congress, by its nature and Constitutional constraints, will not be able to address every aspect of the crisis or have the authority to do so, it does have the capacity –if it finds the will — to buck the Founders’ intentions and move at the speed at which this crisis demands.