Any Congress member who does not wear a mask will be fined, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proposed on Tuesday after being locked down with GOP colleagues who refused to wear masks during the attack of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
First offenders will pay a fine of $500. Second-time offenders will dish $2,500 in fines. All payments must come from personal accounts, they can not be paid through campaign funds or expense accounts.
Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman blamed Republicans for giving her coronavirus, she wrote in an Op-Ed for The Washington Post.
“When I say that many Republicans are responsible for what happened to me, to others and to the country last week, I mean their essential failure to accept facts led us here. Much like they should be able to accept the results of an election, elected leaders should be able to accept facts like the efficacy of masks. It’s clearly time for a congressional campus wide mask requirement, enforced by the House and Senate sergeants at arms.”
She’s not the only one upset. Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois tweeted:
“Wearing a mask is not a political statement, it is public health guidance, common courtesy, and simply what should be expected of all decent people.”
Pelosi added a mask mandate for the House floor last summer. However, it was not enforced.
–CNJ staff reports