An inadvertently upside-down Rep. Tom Emmer showed that Congress is not immune to pandemic-era video conference mishaps.
During a House Financial Services Committee dealing with reconciliation issues on a coronavirus relief package on Wednesday, the Minnesota Republican congressman joined the meeting remotely to deliver remarks. On-screen, though, was only his upside-down floating head against a blue background.
Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, the committee chairwoman, cut him off.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Emmer?” Waters said. “Are you OK?”
“I am,” he responded.
“You’re upside down, Tom,” another member said.
“I don’t know how to fix that,” Emmer said.
“You’re upside down, Tom.” pic.twitter.com/YAEYmmZrQ7
— Natalie Johnson (@nataliejohnsonn) February 11, 2021
Members cracked jokes as Emmer tried to fix his video stream, telling him to stand on his head.
“At least you’re not a cat,” one member said, a reference to a video that went viral on Wednesday of a Texas lawyer who accidentally joined a hearing with a cat filter.
“I don’t know what happened. It just came out this way. I turned it off and turned it back on, and I’m still — OK!” Emmer said, having fixed his video to show his face right-side up. “Hey, Madam Chair, how’s that?”
Emmer, who leads the House Republicans’ campaign arm, continued with his remarks. And he was happy to joke about the mishap on Twitter, posting the photo with “I am not a cat.”
Pandemic-era virtual adjustments have caused many chuckle-worthy technical issues during government business. Last May, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor accidentally kept forgetting to un-mute her microphone during an argument heard by conference call. “I’m sorry, chief. I did it again,” she told Chief Justice John Roberts, also on the call with the other justices.
I am not a cat. pic.twitter.com/d4lhQd0sJ4
— Tom Emmer (@RepTomEmmer) February 10, 2021
