Chris Murphy tests positive for COVID-19 

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday as lawmakers head into the home stretch of the current Congress.

“Argh. … I tested positive. I’m asymptomatic and feel totally fine. Downside: I will follow CDC rules and isolate. Upside: maybe now I can finally finish shingling the backyard shed,” Murphy wrote on Twitter.  

The senator said had taken the COVID-19 test per protocol for a State Department lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron during his state visit. 

The positive test takes the senator off Capitol Hill for at least part of this year’s lame-duck session, after the midterms but before the next Congress convenes in 2023. 

Democrats are working in overdrive to push legislation forward before Republicans take over the House in January, since President Biden will face more of an uphill battle without his party holding the majority in both chambers.  

Senators are currently taking action to avert a rail strike, with votes being held Thursday after Biden pressed Congress to intervene.

They’re also negotiating a bipartisan deal to fund the federal government for the next fiscal year before running into the Dec. 16 shutdown deadline.

Biden had also wanted to try for legislation that would ban assault rifles during the lame-duck session, though Murphy — a leading pro-gun control voice in the upper chamber — said over the weekend that he wasn’t sure the ban could garner enough votes.