Republican Thomas Massie fined for refusing to abide by House mask requirements

House Representative Thomas Massie (KY-R) refused to abide by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s mask requirement Tuesday.

Massie said the mask mandate had little scientific backing and refused to wear a mask on the House floor. “We’ve had enough.” Massie wrote in a tweet, “We are refusing to wear our masks on the floor during this vote in spite of Pelosi’s threat to take $500 from each of us.” “Her rule is not based on science. All you need to know is the mask rule has only ever applied to members when they can be seen on TV!” Massie added. Then on Wednesday, he posted a photo of a letter in a trash can, he said it was from the Speaker of the House, “warning me to follow her mask rule.” Then on Thursday in another tweet, he posted a new picture of a new letter in the trash saying, “@SpeakerPelosi sent me another letter. Something about violating her tyrannical and unscientific mask rule. I filed this one in the same location.”

House Democrats approved a rule earlier this year allowing representatives to be fined $500 for a first offense and $2,500 for the next offense, for not wearing a mask on the House floor. Massie is not the only Congress member to refuse to wear a mask, there are eight other GOP members who have refused as well. The others who refused are as follows: Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-R), Louie Gohmert (TX-R), Mary Miller (IL-R), Beth Van Duyne (TX-R), Ralph Norman (SC-R), Lauren Boebert (CO-R), and Charles Roy (TX-R). Melanie Zanona (@MZanona on Twitter) provided this list.

Following changes in guidelines issued Thursday by the Center for Disease and Prevention and the White House- who say fully vaccinated people can choose to not wear masks when indoors- a group of over thirty House Republicans, led by House Representative Bob Gibbs (OH-R), sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi, demanding her mask rules to be reversed. “Speaker Pelosi, In accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance released on May 13, 2021 we urge you to immediately return to normal voting procedures and end mandatory mask requirements in the House of Representatives,” the Thursday letter read. “The United States Congress must serve as a model to show the country that we can resume normal life through vaccination. Let’s follow the science and get back to work,” Gibbs’ letter concluded. So far, Pelosi has been unyielding on continuing her mask requirement in the House.

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ARTICLE: JACOB ZUBY

POLITICS EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE

PHOTO CREDITS: VOX