Sen. Dick Durbin Richard (Dick) Joseph DurbinMcConnell focuses on confirming judicial nominees with COVID-19 talks stalled Senate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden Top GOP senator calls for Biden to release list of possible Supreme Court picks MORE (Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, and Sen. Rob Portman Robert (Rob) Jones PortmanRomney undecided on authorizing subpoenas for GOP Obama-era probes Congress needs to prioritize government digital service delivery House passes B bill to boost Postal Service MORE (R-Ohio) want to change the Senate's rules to allow for remote voting during a national crisis.

Currently, senators vote in person on the Senate floor, where they indicate, frequently with the point of a finger, whether they will vote for or against something.

Durbin and Portman argue that bringing all 100 senators back to Washington could go against Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance amid growing concerns about the possibility of the spread of coronavirus on Capitol Hill.

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Setting up remote voting would require a change in the Senate rules. The proposal would give the Senate majority and minority leaders the ability to jointly authorize remote voting for 30 days. After that, the Senate would need to vote to reauthorize.

“While I know there is resistance to changing a Senate tradition to allow for remote voting during national emergencies, I believe this is an important issue and worthy of robust discussion amongst our Senate colleagues,” Portman said in a statement.

Durbin added that lawmakers "need to bring voting in the Senate into the 21st century so that our important work can continue even under extraordinary circumstances. Bob Dylan was right: ‘the times they are a-changin.’"

There is growing anxiety on Capitol Hill about the coronavirus, which has brought businesses to a crawl and roiled the markets. Two House members announced on Wednesday that they have tested positive, sparking an avalanche of self-quarantines by their colleagues.

Leadership, however, has shot down talk of allowing the Senate to vote remotely. Instead, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellMomentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day Trump expects to nominate woman to replace Ginsburg next week Video of Lindsey Graham arguing against nominating a Supreme Court justice in an election year goes viral MORE (R-Ky.) said they could lengthen votes and encouraged senators to conduct "social distancing."

“We’ll not be doing that. There are a number of different ways to avoid getting too many people together,” McConnell told reporters.