Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi issued a statement on Thursday that she ordered the Capitol Police to arrest staff and visitors not wearing masks after a new House mandate. Police are directed to report members of Congress who are unmasked, too.
“In today’s edition of Pelosi’s abuse of power, Capitol Police have been directed to arrest staff and visitors to comply with her mask mandate for vaccinated individuals. For Members, they advise not arresting but “reporting Members to SAA for their failure to comply,” posted Congresswoman Kat Cammack, (R-Florida).
— KeepItBlueDems (@KeepItBlueDems) July 29, 2021
Congressional aides and visitors to the House of Representatives will now face arrest for not wearing masks, as mask mandates were reintroduced earlier this week.
Newly appointed Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, in a letter Wednesday, ordered officers to enforce new mask mandates in the House, including denial of entry and even arrest, according to The Hill.
Tuesday night, Brian Monahan, the Capitol physician, reinstated mask mandates for the House in response to the new delta variant of COVID.
“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,” Manger said Wednesday. “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.”
THE GOP’S RESPONSE
House Republicans told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi where she could shove her mask as the Democrat leader brings the return of an indoor mask mandate to inaugurate a forever pandemic.
“Heading to Senate floor with about 50 colleagues to demand we end the mask charade,” tweeted Texas Rep. Chip Roy as members congregated in the Capitol rotunda.
Heading to Senate floor with about 50 colleagues to demand we end the mask charade. pic.twitter.com/cJic4MpYmH
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) July 29, 2021
awmakers including longtime protestors of the original mask mandate such as Roy and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who were each fined in May for a similar protest, walked through the Capitol in a mass showing of civil disobedience.
GOP Massie: says the House GOP members are over here “for a taste of freedom.”
“You don’t have to wear a mask on the Senate side.”
Massie said they have the same attending physician, but he’s given different directives to each chamber.
Here’s video of them asking to enter. pic.twitter.com/A79S38d9UE
— Chris Cioffi (@ReporterCioffi) July 29, 2021
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene told Steve Bannon’s Warroom Pandemic podcast audience, on Wednesday, that she was suing Pelosi, who she calls “Speaker Maskhole: over the use of facemasks and for the fines levied against.
Information on Greene’s lawsuit can be found here.
