Coronavirus Special Report: Mid-day update, 3/23 – Roll Call

Podcasts

Coronavirus Special Report: Mid-day update, 3/23

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell exits from the Senate floor in the Capitol on March 18, 2020. — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell exits from the Senate floor in the Capitol on March 18, 2020. (Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call)

By Jason Dick and Micaela Rodríguez

Posted March 23, 2020 at 1:53pm

The pressure is on for the Senate to reach agreement on a $2 trillion stimulus package to blunt the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. But senators are not just struggling with policy proposals: they are dealing with the disease in their own ranks, and tempers are starting to flare.

Show notes:

Recent Stories

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, arrives for the Senate Republicans’ lunch meeting on Wednesday.

Negotiations on Senate stopgap spending bill drag

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to a reporter as he boards the Senate subway on July 30, 2026.

‘How do we get out of here?’ — Congressional Hits and Misses

Troy Jackson, Maine Democratic nominee for Senate, speaks after winning the nomination at the Maine Democrats special nominating convention in Bangor, Maine, on Saturday. Jackson will challenge incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Photos of the week | July 24-30, 2026

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, center, attends a congressional ceremony for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday.

Trump defends ‘weaponization’ fund amid Blanche confirmation drama

A work crew vacuums the peak of Alexander Calder’s “Mountains and Clouds” installation in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building in 2020. The mobile portion of the sculpture, which has been gone for years, is expected to be reinstalled in August.

It could be a very cloudy month in the Hart atrium

Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., talks with reporters in the Capitol in June. Senate Democrats released the results of their annual diversity survey this week.

Senate Democrats continue staff diversity survey, despite Trump’s anti-DEI trend