Republican House representatives made their way to the Senate floor on Thursday to protest House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s new mask mandates for all visitors, staff, and lawmakers on the floor. They had to pass through the House, where masks are required, to get to the Senate, where they are not.
Pelosi has instructed Capitol Police to arrest visitors or staff who refused to mask-up, and any lawmakers would be fined $500.
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These representatives flatly refused to comply. Madison Cawthorn, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Nancy Mace, and Lauren Boebert were at the front of the pack heading to the House chamber to protest the Speaker’s latest rules.
The congressmen and women were heading to Senator Mike Lee’s speech on the Senate floor, where masking is optional.
Rep. Chip Roy said that he was on his way to the chamber, along with 50 other colleagues.
Rep. Barry Lowdermilk said that crossing back into the House from the Senate, where masking is voluntary, was like crossing the DMZ—the “Deplorable Mask Zone.”
Rep. Chris Cioffi shared his clip of the parade as well.
The bulletin for Capitol Police reads: “If a visitor or staff member fails to wear a mask after a request is made to do so, the visitor or staff shall be denied entry to the House Office Buildings or House-side of the U.S. Capitol. Any person who fails to either comply or leave the premises after being asked to do so would be subject to an arrest for Unlawful Entry.”
After the CDC reversed their guidance on Wednesday as regards the necessity of mask-wearing for vaccinated individuals indoors, Pelosi re-upped her mask mandate for those on the House floor.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was questioned on why she called House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy a “moron” after he voiced his opposition to the new mask mandate in the House.
“I said earlier in my comment, science, science, science, and science,” replied Pelosi. “On almost every subject that you can name, science is the answer.”