Two GOP Senators Follow Rand Paul to Quarantine After Diagnosis
(Bloomberg) --
Two other Republican U.S. senators said they’ll go into self-quarantine after Rand Paul of Kentucky announced on Sunday that he’s tested positive for Covid-19.
The moves by Senators Mike Lee and Mitt Romney of Utah, recommended given the time they’ve spent with Paul recently, have thrown a wrench into efforts by the Senate to pass a massive coronavirus economic stimulus package.
Two other Republicans, Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado and Senator Rick Scott of Florida, have also been in self-quarantine after possible exposure to the virus from other infected individuals.
Paul, who voted against two emergency coronavirus spending bills this month, tested positive for the virus and is in quarantine, according to a post on his Twitter account on Sunday.
He’s the first U.S. senator, and third member of Congress, known to have become infected. Lee subsequently said he would self-quarantine for 14 days -- which means “no traveling or voting” -- on the advice of the Attending Physician of the U.S. Congress, and Romney followed.
Paul, the Kentucky lawmaker, was tested “out of an abundance of caution” due to his extensive travel and events, according to the tweet.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat of Arizona, responded angrily on to reports that Paul had been at the Congressional gym on Sunday morning, and swam in the pool there -- after taking the test, but before receiving the results.
“You cannot be near other people while waiting for coronavirus test results,” she said on Twitter.
The lawmakers now in quarantine will miss the next steps on efforts to provide some $2 trillion in direct and indirect stimulus to the U.S. economy as it reels from the widening effects of the pandemic.
Senators must be present to vote, and current rules don’t allow remote voting -- although pressure is mounting for that to change.
“The responsibility of the Senate is to remain open,” Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, said on Twitter. “Remote voting must be instituted immediately.”
President Donald Trump, at a press briefing at the White House, suggested lawmakers consider at least a temporary remote-voting solution.
Paul, 57, is feeling fine and isn’t aware of any direct contact with any infected person, his Twitter message said. Symptoms of the virus can include fever, coughing, and shortness of breath.
A follow-up tweet said he expects to be back in the Senate after his quarantine has ended, and that virtually no staff has had contact with the senator in the past 10 days, when his D.C. office began working remotely.
Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican, and Representative Ben McAdams, Democrat of Utah, last week both revealed they had been diagnosed as positive.
The three join more than 33,000 other Americans known to have the virus, according to a running tally from Johns Hopkins University that puts the U.S. third behind China and Italy in the number of cases. Over 400 people have died in the U.S. Globally, cases have exceeded 328,000 with over 14,000 deaths.
Paul was among a handful of Republican lawmakers on March 18 to oppose a $100 billion stimulus package to offset the impact of Covid-19 on the U.S. economy. The measure was approved 90-8 and signed into law by President Donald Trump.
Earlier this month, Paul was the lone vote against an $8 billion emergency spending package aimed at boosting funds for testing and lowering the cost of certain related medical treatments. He proposed an amendment that offset some of the costs of the legislation with cuts elsewhere, which was rejected.
The senator’s father, former Texas Representative Ron Paul, has been one of final holdouts among coronavirus skeptics as the impact of the pandemic has broadened this month and state governments have ramped up their response.
The 2012 Republican presidential candidate penned a column entitled “The Coronavirus Hoax,” dated March 16.
“Governments love crises because when the people are fearful they are more willing to give up freedoms for promises that the government will take care of them,” the elder Paul wrote.
He termed Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, “the chief fearmonger of the Trump administration.”
(Updates with Sinema in sixth paragraph.)
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