The Democratic Party is out of the office. Quite literally.
Nancy Pelosi, who controls administrative policy in the House, this week extended the in-office moratorium and proxy voting through the middle of May. Pelosi says she based the policy on the recommendation of the sergeant-at-arms who wrote that there is still an ongoing “public health emergency due to the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 remains in effect.” Quite the contrast to the president’s message.
Pelosi’s extension follows reporting from the Washington Free Beacon last week that most Democratic offices in DC remain shut, citing Covid-19 pandemic and workplace restrictions as the reason.
It’s odd that, six months out from a midterm election that could radically reshape the Democrats’ agenda and Joe Biden’s presidency, no one is answering the phones. Joe Biden called for a return to normalcy at his State of the Union Address, but no one in his party (save for a few rare governors like Colorado’s Jared Polis) seem to be listening to him.
Per the Beacon:
A Washington Free Beacon investigation after Biden’s speech found that many Democratic offices [are] completely closed and unstaffed, with several displaying signs that they were not returning to work due to Covid-19. Included among the shuttered offices was none other than that of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. In the middle of the workday his front desk was unstaffed, and there was nobody in sight. His office did not respond to a request for comment about when its teleworking policy would end.
Joe Biden’s staff has seen the polling on his party being tied to Covid mandates, masks and lockdowns, but perhaps Pelosi hasn’t?
The trend of confusion within the Democratic party on how to progress beyond Covid continues. Could the House Speaker’s move be a policy ploy to extend “emergency Covid measures,” such as postponing student loan payments and extending eviction prevention measures? Those are moves that prominent members of the party like Senator Elizabeth Warren have called for.
The out-of-office debacle might seem like a bit of niche DC inside baseball about the nature of how congressional offices operate. But it’s also further evidence the Democratic Party simply isn’t home as inflation, gas prices and crime rise domestically.
It also seems to suggest that Democrats have no idea how cities work — which might be surprising considering how they control most cities in this country. Urban businesses have been shuttering and struggling for survival as a result of pandemic restrictions and employees forgoing the commute to work from home. Financial districts and the areas around government buildings have turned into ghost neighborhoods — now occupied primarily by the homeless and the mentally deranged. Downtown Washington will be one of the slowest to kick back into gear as Covid wanes; Pelosi’s move will see it remain in a comatose state for several more weeks.
The party in control of both legislative and executive branches faces a Red Wedding heading into November. While House members tweet about their gratitude for Will Smith striking Chris Rock at the Oscars, or impeaching a Supreme Court Justice, it appears any interest in moving the country forward have stalled.
Americans have, for the most part, returned to work, if not fully in-office, then in the booming hybrid model that combines in-person work with teleconferencing. Working parents are finally returning their kids to school, and yet the Democrats have remained shuttered and tied to their own Covid fatalism, even as the Biden White House sees the writing on the wall. It’s something for which they are going to pay dearly in these midterms; perhaps then Democratic members of Congress will begin picking up their phones again.
