PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2020-04-21 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Did Pelosi Say Congress Would Not Return 'Unless There Is an Emergency'? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • In April 2020, as much of the U.S. economy was at a standstill while the federal and state governments scrambled to deal with the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic, a meme circulated via social media held that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had declared Congress would be out of session until the following month unless an emergency arose: This meme was a gross distortion of what actually took place, which was not that Pelosi took it upon herself to decide no current emergency required lawmakers' attention and to adjourn Congress until the following month (a power she does not possess). Rather, bipartisan statements from the majority leaders of both houses of Congress — Republican Mitch McConnell for the Senate and Democrat Steny Hoyer for the House of Representatives — announced that Congress would be extending its current recess by an additional two weeks due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but legislators would continue to work remotely until May 4 unless they needed to return to Washington, D.C., earlier than that to pass emergency measures related to the pandemic. For example, CNBC reported the following of the House Majority Leader's statement on scheduling: Similarly, NPR reported the following of the Senate Majority Leader's statement on scheduling: Here is the full announcement issued by U.S. Senate Majority Leader McConnell on April 14, 2020, regarding scheduling: And here is the scheduling announcement issued by U.S. House Majority Leader Hoyer: Congressional leaders also left open the possibility that members might return sooner than May 4 if pandemic-related legislation was ready to be voted upon: (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url