Both chambers of Congress will remain on recess later than scheduled, returning no earlier than May 4, lawmakers said this week.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced the upper chamber would add two weeks to its current recess in a Tuesday note to fellow senators, then in a press release. His announcement followed a similar message from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Monday.
The goal is to continue social distancing and combat the spread of the respiratory disease COVID-19, the lawmakers said. Congress was originally scheduled to return from recess on April 20.
“As the country continues working together to flatten the curve, following the advice of health experts, the full Senate is not expected to travel back to Washington D.C. sooner than Monday, May 4th,” McConnell said in the release. Senators would be given 24 hours’ notice before being required to return for a regular session.
Any pending nominations will now be extended until at least May 4 as a result. Among them: Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes is waiting on a hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee following his March 12 nomination as deputy energy secretary.
The leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees have recently told reporters they plan to mark up the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by the end of May. The annual defense policy bill covers the National Nuclear Security Administration, and most of the work done by the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management office.
However, lawmakers acknowledge that schedules remain fluid and are dependent upon health guidelines issued by federal, state, and local government officials.
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s NDAA timeline remains flexible “because of the uncertainty associated with the coronavirus in the weeks ahead,” spokeswoman Marta Hernandez said in the statement last week.
The timing and format for upcoming nomination hearings are being decided in the context of guidance from government health and local officials and congressional leadership.
For the budget year beginning Oct. 1, the NNSA requested nearly $20 billion in funding. The Senate Armed Services Committee had scheduled an April 9 “paper hearing” on the spending proposal, but canceled it to avoid diverting Defense Department focus from dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
In late March, the House Armed Services Committee canceled its planned NDAA markup due to the crisis. It had not scheduled a makeup date at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor.
The House and Senate Appropriations committees also have yet to issue their fiscal 2021 budget bills for any federal agencies.
This story first appeared in Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor affiliate publication Defense Daily.
