President Joe Biden proclaimed during his recent State of the Union address that “because of the progress we’ve made … we are moving forward safely, back to more normal routines.” Many Democratic staffers on Capitol Hill, however, appeared to miss the memo.
According to an investigation from The Washington Free Beacon, many Democratic offices remain “completely closed and unstaffed, with several displaying signs that they were not returning to work due to COVID-19.”
The offices of several prominent Democratic lawmakers were among those that remained shuttered, The Free Beacon reported:
Included among the shuttered offices was none other than that of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.). In the middle of the workday his front desk was unstaffed, and there was nobody in sight. His office did not respond to a request for comment about when its teleworking policy would end.
The office of Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D., Nev.), who faces a tough reelection battle in the fall, was closed as well, with a sign on the door that says, “Cleaning not required.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), who chairs the budget committee, has also kept his office closed and put a sign on his door with text stating the closure was part of “an effort to prevent the spread of germs and bacteria.”
The Free Beacon added that some offices — such as those of Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Patty Murray (D-WA) — have teleworking options while refusing to accept visits from constituents. Meanwhile, the offices of Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) have signs in their offices that tell visitors to avoid handshakes.
During his State of the Union address, Biden emphasized his administration’s “efforts to vaccinate the nation and combat COVID-19” and declared, based on CDC advisory changes, that “most Americans in most of the country can now be mask free.” The sudden pivot provoked mockery from many on the Right — including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who observed that the rollback of restrictions constituted “a State of the Union miracle!”
Indeed, Biden did not emphasize his harsh vaccine mandate policies during his speech. Thanks to a lawsuit from The Daily Wire, the Supreme Court earlier this year rolled back the White House’s unconstitutional private employer vaccine mandate.
“It’s a tremendous day for the American people and for the founding idea that this is a limited government of enumerated powers, which exists to protect, not erode, the God-given freedoms of the people,” Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing wrote at the time. “What does all of that mean? It means we won. It means we’re still free.”
“Total victory, not just for the millions of Americans who have exercised their right not to be vaccinated, but the millions more who oppose the tyranny of this mandate regardless of their vaccine status,” he continued. “And utter defeat for the government, which sought to enforce its will on the American people — literally INTO the American people — at threat of financial ruin just because they’re convinced they know better than you. Drink their tears, my friends, and enjoy your freedom. By the grace of God, you still have it.”