Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has racked up nearly $50,000 in fines for not complying with the House Chamber’s mask mandate.
According to the House Ethics Committee, Greene has been fined at least seven times for refusing to comply with the mask mandate. She has been “documented” nearly two dozen times for bucking the mandate, said a letter dated Oct. 28 from the House Sergeant-at-Arms William Walker, the Washington Examiner reported.
“You have been observed not wearing a mask on July 29, August 2, September 20, 21, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, and October 1, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, and 27, and have been asked by a member of my staff to wear a mask while in the Hall of the House of Representatives on each occasion unless recognized to speak by the chair,” wrote Walker.
Greene, however, remains adamant that she will not comply with the mask mandate.
“I will continue my stand on the House floor against authoritarian Democrat mandates because I don’t want the American people to stand alone,” the Republican said in a statement Monday.
Greene, also on Monday, accused rule-makers of inconsistency on when masks are required.
“Democrat members don’t wear masks in the members gym when they work out. None of us do & no one should,” she stated.
“Why do I get fined for not wearing a mask when I’m sitting in a chair on the House floor the same as people eating unmasked at a restaurant?”
Democrat members don’t wear masks in the members gym when they work out.
None of us do & no one should.
Why do I get fined for not wearing a mask when I’m sitting in a chair on the House floor the same as people eating unmasked at a restaurant? https://t.co/s8MhR2un6N
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 2, 2021
According to WUSA9, the masking mandate was doled out by the Attending Physician of the Capitol, and apparently, representatives and visitors can be arrested for not obeying:
U.S. Capitol Police have the ability to arrest visitors and staffers who refuse to comply with the rule, but say “there is no reason it should ever come to someone being arrested. For Members of Congress and staffers who are with them that won’t comply, Capitol Police will report the incident to the House Sergeant at Arms.”
Earlier this year, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called out Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for the mask mandate. In turn, she called the mandate the “purview of the Capitol physician,” and said she’d “honor” the rule.
“There is no discussion about ‘should we do it, should we not’ for one reason or another,” Pelosi said, WUSA9 reported. “It’s the decision of the Capitol physician, who is following the guidance of the CDC about the masks.”
Other Republicans have blasted the Democrat for her apparent support of the mandate.
“I cannot fathom a circumstance in which it’s ever appropriate to arrest another human being for not wearing a mask— COVID or no COVID,” Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) said during a Senate session.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted, “If you dare walk in the hallway without a mask, I Speaker Pelosi will arrest you. I will put you in jail, I will fine you.’ That is an absolute and complete abuse of power.”
Nancy Pelosi is drunk on power.
The mask orders she is mandating are abusive and unprecedented. pic.twitter.com/HuFRq447Dg
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) July 29, 2021