Republican lawmakers on Wednesday protested against the House floor mask mandate being reinstituted the previous evening, with several members of the minority party refusing to wear a face covering and Texas Rep. Chip Roy using a legislative delay tactic to show discontent.
Following updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that recommends vaccinated people should wear masks in some situations, the Congress’s attending physician reinstated the requirement that lawmakers wear masks on the House floor.
Members who refuse risk fines being taken out of their congressional salaries because of a rule adopted in January, with $500 for a first offense of not wearing a mask and $2,500 for a second offense.
In a display of civil disobedience, a number of members opted to risk the fine and declined to wear a mask, even when offered one by a staff member walking around the floor who offered disposable masks and wrote on a notepad after interactions with those who refused.
Those who refused to comply to Nancy new mask rule include:
- Rep. Lauren Boebert
- Rep. Andy Briggs
- Rep. Andrew Clyde
- Rep. Matt Gaetz
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
- Rep. Mary Miller
- Rep. Burgess Owens
This is not the first time that House Republicans protested the rule by going maskless on the floor. About a dozen Republicans, including many of the same members, revolted in May after the House declined to immediately lift its mask mandate after a change in CDC guidance.
.@ChipRoyTX: "We have a crisis at our border. And we're playing footsie with mask mandates in the People's House!…
I can’t execute my Constitutional duty unless I wear a mask. Well, which is it? Vaccines or masks? The vaccines work or they don’t work…!" pic.twitter.com/gHRouWLzQx
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 28, 2021
Democrats scoffed at Republicans’ objections to the mandate’s return. Asked about Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s argument that the mask mandate return does not follow the science, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi resorted to calling Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy a “moron.”
Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan said in a tweet that “listening to Republicans cry about masks is like listening to babies cry about wearing diapers.” Democratic California Rep. Jared Huffman reportedly got in a shouting match with Republican Rep. Byron Donalds outside the House floor over Donalds not wearing a mask.
Roy shot back at a tweet from Michigan Rep. Rashida Talib accusing Republicans of wanting to quit working: “America is better off if we adjourn” because Democrats could harm the country.
Meanwhile @HouseDemocrats prefer to vote by proxy from boats or in boxers while advancing a pro-inflation, pro-cartel & open border, pro-Hamas, pro CRT racism, anti-American agenda while mandating nanny state masks… so sure, America is better off if we adjourn. https://t.co/I3G7v1Eb8Q
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) July 28, 2021
McCarthy blasted Pelosi’s comment calling him a moron.
“If she’s so brilliant, can she tell me where the science in the building changes between the House and the Senate? Can she explain to me, when the CDC says only vaccinated people need to wear a mask of hot spots?”
The protestations of these House Republicans should be celebrated by every freedom-loving American. It’s because of them liberal hegemony doesn’t fully subsume American life. With just a small amount of blowback, these America First lawmakers are sending a message of rational defiance to the Democrat tyrants who insist we all simply lay down in fear.
Author: Elizabeth Tierney
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