The current round of stimulus spending—and House Speaker Pelosi is insisting there will be more, and there has to be because there was a lot that this one failed to do—is slated to come to the floor of the House on Friday. Anything can happen overnight, particularly as members and people see just what is in the Senate bill that’s problematic, but for now the vote is a “go.” Pelosi wants it passed Friday, probably because as people have more time to read it, they're finding more problems.
As of Thursday afternoon, House leadership and staff have been working on figuring out how to do that safely. They believe they'll have a quorum of 216 available to do the vote in the event a roll call vote is forced. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has contacted members asking them to consider not coming onto the floor and "encouraging Members who will not be on the House Floor during debate to record video statements." He wrote, "C-SPAN has agreed to dedicate blocks of their coverage to air Members' video statements." He also includes a how-to for members on recording themselves. This is clearly in hopes that the fewest number of members possible decide to be on the floor.
For those who do go, Fox's congressional correspondent Chad Pergram details in a tweet thread all of the restrictions the Attending Physician and the House Sergeant at Arms have placed on how members should interact. That includes asking those "who are ill with respiratory symptoms or fever" to not show up. You'd think that was obvious, but they're probably thinking about the House Republican science deniers here.
If they can do it by a voice vote, then the presiding officer will say the "yeas" have it and it will be done. But any member can call for a roll call vote, and if that happens, they’ll allow just 30 members at a time, in 16 groups, to come into the chamber at a time "to minimize the risks posed by placing too many individuals in one location."
There are a whole bunch of instructions, from using the lecterns to eliminate personnel and staff to allowing a maximum of two people in elevators when traveling to the floor. As of now, Republican leadership says there’s one member who might try to demand a roll call vote, but that leadership is trying to talk him or her (but let's be real, it's a him) down. Other reporters identify the problem as Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
This bill has a raft of problems and there will have to be a second round. What assistance there is to individuals—and particularly when it comes to the big boost in unemployment benefits—seems to be driving most Democrats to support it. At the moment, the Republican Senate is not going to be likely to do more if the House doesn't pass it. At least at the moment. The situation in a week or two will almost certainly add to the pressure for the next round, however, and this one is going to have to be driven by the House Democrats with a lot pressure from progressives.