Top Democrats introduce resolution calling for mask mandate, testing program in Senate

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, are pushing for the chamber to require masks and establish a formal testing program amid a spike in new cases.

The two Democrats introduced a resolution Wednesday that would call for the enforcement of social distancing requirements either in the Senate office buildings or the Senate-side of the Capitol and a contact-tracing program.

“Senate Republicans must join us here in reality and acknowledge that through their inaction, they are creating a truly dangerous situation,” Schumer said in a statement.

Klobuchar added that the resolution includes “common sense measures our government must have in place to protect the Senate community, including our staff, and to fully function during this pandemic.”

The resolution would throw Senate support behind the chamber following public health guidelines and call the lack of a “coordinated and comprehensive COVID–19 strategy in the Senate … a threat to the legislative branch.”

The two Democratic senators are also calling for a ban on a person going to the Senate floor or to a committee after a positive coronavirus test and until a person tests negative, and that any person who has either had the coronavirus or has been exposed to it get two negative tests on separate days before returning to the Capitol. Neither of those details are specifically included in the resolution.

The resolution comes after three GOP senators tested positive for the coronavirus and another three are quarantining due to exposure to their colleagues.

In total five senators are known to have tested positive for the coronavirus so far this year: Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) have said they have tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, suggesting they were previously exposed to the virus.

Tests are available on Capitol Hill for those showing symptoms of COVID-19 or if they’ve been exposed to a lawmaker who has tested positive.

But lawmakers in both parties have pushed for the implementation of widespread, regular testing of lawmakers — many of whom still travel routinely back to their home states — as well as their staff and press.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) previously rejected an offer for rapid testing from the White House, arguing that resources should go toward the front lines of the health pandemic.

Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) discussed the issue of testing last week. McConnell, speaking to reporters in Kentucky on Friday, appeared unconvinced that the Senate needed to ramp up testing after the recent cases.

“We’re following the advice of the CDC in how we operate the Senate and so far we’ve been able to do it quite successfully,” he said, referring to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.