London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Senators Are Planning To Leave Washington Soon Amid The Coronavirus Outbreak and Not Return Until Late April

Senators Are Planning To Leave Washington Soon Amid The Coronavirus Outbreak and Not Return Until Late April

Senators will leave after passing a massive economic recovery package, as health officials have urged people to avoid close contact with others as much as possible.
Senators are planning to leave Washington until April 20 to avoid further spread of the novel coronavirus after they pass a roughly $2 trillion stimulus bill this week, according to four Senate aides.

The chamber could vote as early as Wednesday on legislation to help deal with the economic fallout of the global pandemic, which has rattled US markets. A plan is in the works to then have senators go home for several weeks after spending nine days in close contact with one another in the Capitol, contrary to recommendations from public health officials to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people.

The Senate had already planned to recess from April 6 to 17 for a district work period, so the new plan would extend senators’ time away from the Capitol.

Already, one senator -Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul -has tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, but isn’t showing symptoms. Paul, who had worked alongside senators for several days before receiving his test results, has now quarantined himself, and others who had contact with him have done the same. One of those senators, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, announced Tuesday that he had tested negative for the disease.

Earlier this month, several senators insisted they could keep working as usual, despite the fact that frequent travel and their advanced ages put them at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 (the average age for US senators is 62.9 years old). More recently, a pair of senators sought to change the chamber’s rules so that they could vote remotely.

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not return a request for comment.

It’s unclear if the House will follow suit. A spokesperson for Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not return a request for comment. Two members of the House have tested positive for the disease so far.

Several other countries have suspended their legislative sessions, including Canada, which announced that its parliament would also close until April 20. However, party leaders have recently returned to Ottawa to negotiate a large coronavirus response bill.

The plans to recess in the Senate come after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommended gatherings of more than 10 people be canceled and after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the virus.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×