Two GOP Lawmakers Preside Over Empty Chambers in Unwanted Honor

In an almost empty Capitol, the day after Christmas, two Republican lawmakers drew the short straw of presiding over their respective chambers the day after Christmas.

The House and Senate briefly gaveled into — and almost immediately out of — pro forma sessions Friday afternoon, a procedural task that perennially but briefly awakens Congress even while most lawmakers are away.

Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) was tasked with wielding the gavel in the Senate. Her reign lasted all of around 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, over in the House, Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) shrugged off the unfortunate honor of presiding over the House session.

“I have family here, and we’re on our way out of town here momentarily,” he said before bounding up the stairs to his children waiting in the gallery.

Each chamber briefly gavels into session every couple of days during recesses to meet its constitutional prerogative not to leave town for too long without the approval of the other body.

They also maintain the bipartisan tradition of preventing the president from making recess appointments, notwithstanding President Donald Trump’s pressure last year on incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to allow those interim picks to take office without senators’ consent.

The Capitol itself operated on a smaller staff over the holidays. Messages to congressional employees spawned automatic replies with office closure and vacation notes. Less security roamed the halls, and even the echoes of the tourists in the Rotunda were muted.

The job of presiding over those pro forma sessions is formally assigned by the House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the most senior member of the majority. But the task often falls to more junior members rather than committee chairs or leadership.

Smith’s other business of the day was entertaining a Bloomberg Government request for an update on legislation in his subcommittee’s jurisdiction to renew trade deals with sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti.

“There’s a lot happening,” he said, while walking through empty Capitol.