Congress Isn't Ready for Coronavirus

As congressional leaders sniped their way through the coronavirus crisis this week-wrestling with how to act and avert a massive economic shock amid a quickly evolving tsunami of national closures, collapsing stock prices and a worsening pandemic-an even more ominous thought hung in the background of Capitol Hill: A pandemic, particularly one whose primary victims are older than 60, presents the long-feared worst-case scenario for Congress' existence itself.

Since the end of World War II, efforts to force the House and Senate to confront how it would function in an emergency have stalled, and even the lackluster efforts after 9/11 to improve congressional continuity planning fell short of addressing the potential impact of a pandemic: While the outright death of senators and representatives poses its own unique set of problems for the body and democracy, an illness like COVID-19 that threatens to sicken a wide swath of members threatens to paralyze or destabilize the entire legislative branch of government when its quick action is most needed.

This Congress, according to the Congressional Research Service, is among the oldest ever. Even with the flood of young Democratic members elected in the midterms, the 116th Congress is older than the Congress before-the average age of a representative is nearly 58 years old, whereas senators average nearly 63 years old. Fourteen senators are over 75, meaning Congress has failed to come up with meaningful continuity planning for their entire lives.