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Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the longest-serving Republican senator and third in the line of presidential succession, said Tuesday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. Grassley, 87, had announced earlier Tuesday that he was quarantining after being exposed to the virus and was waiting for test results. On Tuesday evening, he tweeted that he had tested positive. (Jalonick, 11/18)

The senator was at the Capitol on Monday and spoke on the Senate floor, taking off his mask to do so. Grassley’s illness follows news late last week that fellow octogenarian Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska,) the dean of the House as the longest-consecutive-serving member, was diagnosed with the coronavirus. (Itkowitz and DeBonis, 11/17)

Colorado Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D) announced Tuesday that he’s tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the latest House lawmaker to be diagnosed with the virus. Perlmutter said in a statement that he is currently asymptomatic and will isolate in his Washington apartment as he works remotely. (Axelrod, 11/17)

Sen. Rob Portman is participating in a Covid-19 vaccine trial to try to boost public confidence in a shot when it becomes available, the Ohio Republican said in an interview. Portman, who has broken with many of his fellow Republicans on issues like mask wearing, joined a large, late-stage trial of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine candidate almost two weeks ago. He said polls showing skepticism about an eventual Covid-19 shot convinced him that public figures need to demonstrate confidence in a vaccine. (Luthi, 11/17)

In a letter to McConnell on Tuesday, Schumer, D-N.Y., and Pelosi, D-Calif., asked the Kentucky Republican to “join us at the negotiating table this week so that we can work towards a bipartisan, bicameral COVID-19 relief agreement to crush the virus and save American lives.” As they called for money for schools, small businesses, state and local governments and unemployment insurance, the Democrats wrote that the “pandemic and economic recession will not end without our help.” (Pramuk, 11/17)

As coronavirus cases spike around the country, hospitalizations reach new records and President Donald Trump continues to refuse to concede the election, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are less and less confident that any stimulus deal can be reached in the lame duck with focus turning instead to a government spending negotiation that must be finished by December 11. (Fox and Zaslav, 11/17)

Obstacles to housing affordability have been exacerbated by the coronavirus and will require government assistance to help Americans weather the pandemic, lawmakers and experts said Tuesday. “We’ve had a moratorium on eviction, but lots of people fall through those cracks,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. (Bautista, 11/17)