Ten GOP members of the House of Representatives defied Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s mask mandate – and now three repeat offenders are paying the price.
According to The Washington Post, Representatives Brian Mast (Fla.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa), and Beth Van Duyne (Tex.) have each been fined $500 for going maskless on the House floor. Other GOP House members, including Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Louie Gohmert (Tex.), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) have been issued warnings.
Mast said a Democratic colleague yelled at the maskless contingent.
“She was saying we should all be ashamed of ourselves and started yelling at us, and then told us all to get out of her face even though we weren’t really talking to her,” he told Fox News.
Politico reports that Mast, who’s been vaccinated, “stood up during a GOP conference meeting and told his colleagues that he’s “done” wearing masks and will refuse to wear them on the House floor going forward, even if it means being fined.”
A second fine would cost offenders $2,500. The money is deducted from their salaries.
Last week, the CDC said vaccinated adults can forgo a mask in most indoor settings. But Pelosi has kept the House’s mask mandate in place. Although 100% of Democratic House members have been vaccinated, less than half of GOP Representatives are inoculated, according to a CNN tally. Some of the maskless protesters – including Greene – have vowed to skip the vaccine altogether. The total House vaccination rate hovers around 75%.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is filing a privileged resolution today that would allow members to go maskless. McCarthy claims the House’s current policy sends the “erroneous message” to Americans that the COVID-19 vaccines don’t work.
A spokesman for Pelosi called McCarthy’s resolution a “sad stunt” that has “zero basis in science or reality.”
Congress’ attending physician, Brian P. Monahan, said last week that the mask mandate will continue on the House floor “until all Members and floor staff are fully vaccinated.”
“CDC guidelines are also very clear that the workplace can decide [their rules] based on their own unique conditions. I think we can acknowledge that the House floor is a very unique condition,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (CA), vice-chair of the Democratic caucus, said at a press conference.
There is currently no mask mandate in the Senate, where 96 of 100 Senators have been vaccinated. All the holdouts are Republicans, including Sen. Rand Paul.
Some Republicans in the House are also peeved that in-person committee hearings have yet to fully resume.
“Virtual hearings are taking a toll on this committee’s important work and further breaking down our effectiveness,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) said at a hearing on Tuesday.