House GOP lawmakers defy new mask requirement

Source: The Hill | June 17, 2020 | Cristina Marcos

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) directive that House committee leaders enforce a new mask requirement quickly encountered some GOP resistance on Wednesday, with several Republicans participating in legislative markups without facial coverings.

Guidance from the Capitol physician issued late Tuesday, which was requested by Pelosi, said masks are now required for any House meetings “in a limited enclosed space, such as a committee hearing room, for greater than 15 minutes.” A senior Democratic aide said Tuesday that Pelosi had asked committee chairs to “enforce rules of decorum and exclude members who fail to comply.”

The requirement came in response to numerous House Republicans who have dismissed previous guidance from the Capitol physician encouraging the use of facial coverings in recent weeks. While most lawmakers in both parties have been wearing masks in public, the handful who haven’t are all conservative Republicans.

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Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, has been among the GOP lawmakers seen without a mask on Capitol Hill in recent weeks. He initially wore a mask at the start of Wednesday’s Judiciary Committee markup of police reform legislation but later removed it.

About two hours later, Nadler briefly admonished Jordan and Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) for not wearing masks.

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