The Washington Post lets us in on the least secret thing there is to know about the Senate: Republicans don’t give a damn about COVID-19 and have no concern whatsoever about the potential harm they could do to the people they work with. Democrats, however, continue to play by the rules, get tested, and isolate when testing positive.
The attitudes are blindingly apparently in two quotes: “The whole country is depending on us, so we need to stay healthy,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI). “As we get closer to go-time, we should be increasingly careful.” Compare that to Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who admitted the last test he took was to attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration. He has since refused to go to the White House because they require visitors to test. “The problem with testing positive at the White House is, other people know you tested positive as opposed to doing it in your own bedroom,” he said. We only have Cramer’s word that he has been ill or been tested, because clearly he thinks it’s not something the people around him need to know about.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) was pretty blunt about it. “We’re probably not reporting our results or offering as many tests,” he said to explain why out of 66 senators who have reported COVID-19 infections, only five are Republicans. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who is also an actual medical doctor, made a joke out of it. He said so many Democrats are reporting illness out of “karma,” because “When you’re trying to put forward bad bills, you get attendance problems.”
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That’s the big issue right now for Democrats. They are in total crunch time—like the normal lead into the end of the fiscal year in an election year crunch time, but on steroids. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer—who is out this week with a COVID infection—wants to pass whatever he can of Biden’s economic agenda in a reconciliation bill this month, before August recess. But he has to have all 50 Democratic senators and Vice President Kamala Harris to do that. Unlike the House, there is no proxy voting in the Senate. Members have to be there in person.
As of this week, Schumer’s down three Democrats—himself; Richard Blumental (CT) who also has COVID-19; and Patrick Leahy (VT), who doesn’t have COVID but is recovering from a hip fracture. In the past months, Sen. Ben Ray Luján and Chris Van Hollen both had mild strokes. At any given moment, because they are playing by the rules and taking COVID tests and isolating when those tests are positive, Democrats won’t have enough votes to get anything through. Which is even more incentive for Republicans to refuse to test or isolate if they get sick.
It’s been obvious for the entire arc of this pandemic. Witness the myriad Trump superspreader events: The so-called “Party of Life” doesn’t actually care about life that occurs outside the uterus. If they infect their colleagues, their staff, the support staff in the Capitol, or any other person, it’s simply not their problem. Just like all those innocent people killed with assault weapons that are entirely within their power to ban. Not their problem. Just like all the people who can’t afford housing, or food, or medicine—including families with children. Not their problem.
Particularly when they can exploit the results. Get a few more Democratic colleagues infected, and they won’t be able to accomplish anything before the election. Now, I’m not saying that this is a specific strategy employed by Republicans, but it’s pretty darned likely more than one of them has thought it.
It’s just one more instance where Republicans are refusing to play by the rules, and making Democrats look even more like saps for insisting they have to adhere to them for the sake of ... something.
