Congress prepares for ‘strange’ and ‘extraordinary’ presidential address – Everett Post

Everett

(WASHINGTON) – In a normal year, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, DN.Y., would camp in the Chamber of the House for a coveted seat for President Joe Biden’s first address to Congress on Wednesday.

But because of the coronavirus pandemic, he’s lucky enough to be in the room.

“I would like to give him an elbow, but not bad,” he joked.

Biden’s address to a joint congressional session, usually a formal Washington gathering, has been redesigned by COVID-19 and ongoing security concerns remain following the January 6th Capitol uprising.

The chamber of the house, which is normally occupied by more than 1,600 people, will only hold 200 participants by far this year to allow social distancing. Everyone in attendance will wear a mask, although Biden will undress to address lawmakers.

“It will be its own character, it will be its own wonderful character,” House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Said of the speech on Tuesday.

While First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will be in attendance, they will not be attended by White House guests – who usually feature prominently in the President’s speech.

Chief Justice John Roberts will represent the entire Supreme Court, and General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Chief of Staff, will be present in place of Biden’s entire team of military advisors.

And there won’t be a designated survivor this year, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday, because Biden’s cabinet secretaries will be watching from home or from their offices.

On Wednesday evening, congress members enjoying lifetime ground privileges will not be allowed to enter the house without a ticket distributed by senior congress officials.

In the House of Representatives, Pelosi first offered seats to her leadership team, senior lawmakers and committee chairs.

“We’re excited to be sitting where everyone is safest,” D-Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a senior lawmaker who usually stakes out an aisle seat, told ABC News that she could attend the event.

Republicans in both chambers have distributed their tickets on an ad hoc basis, with some senior members giving up their seats to freshmen who have never heard the president address Congress in person.

“If it were a normal state of the union, I would definitely leave,” said Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla. “If I’m in the last row on the upper balcony, why don’t I just watch it on TV?”

According to Senator Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, the Senate Democrats have decided who will randomly attend the speech by drawing lots.

Wednesday night is Biden’s fourth trip to the Capitol as President – and the first time he has entered the Chamber of the House since he took office.

It will also be the first time many House lawmakers have returned to the Chamber Gallery, where some of them found refuge in January when pro-Trump rioters flooded the Capitol.

“I’m sure I’ll have some strong emotions because this was such a dramatic moment for all of us,” Rep. Ann Kuster, DN.H., told ABC News. “Most of us … thought we were going to die in the chamber that day.”

Biden’s speech to a socially distant house chamber will be “strange” and “extraordinary,” said Dr. Lara Brown, director of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, for speaking to Americans who grapple with the health and economics of generations crises in such an unconventional setting.

“Does the President shake hands with people? I mean, probably everyone (in the chamber) was vaccinated by this point, ”she said. “But would you like this model to be shown?”

It’s going to be a historic night for another reason, she noted: For the first time, a woman president addressing Congress will be flanked by women – the first female vice president and speaker of the House of Representatives.

“It’s clearly one of the lasting images of the night,” Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, told ABC News. “Young girls can see someone in one or both of these women who looks like them.”