Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged people to wear masks out in public in order to navigate the “middle ground” of reopening the economy during the coronavirus outbreak.
“We must have no stigma — none — about wearing masks when we leave our homes and come near other people,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Monday. “Wearing simple face coverings is not about protecting other people. It’s about protecting everyone we encounter.”
Democrats have criticized President Trump for not wearing a mask in public, and House Democrats have clashed with some Republican members who have not worn masks to hearings or on the House floor.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, has refused to recognize Republican lawmakers on his panel who are not wearing masks in the committee room.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn on Monday announced he would also refuse to allow lawmakers to participate on a special coronavirus committee he chairs unless they are wearing masks.
Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, wrote to Minority Whip Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, to express “profound disappointment” that the GOP members on the Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis showed up at a Friday hearing without wearing masks. Scalise is the top Republican on the panel.
The House has been mostly working remotely, including holding virtual committee hearings. Lawmakers returned to town last week to vote on legislation and hold some committee hearings in person, among them the coronavirus committee.
Clyburn said face coverings or masks are required in committee rooms, citing an order from the attending physician.
“My Republican colleagues’ refusal to wear masks is perplexing because you have asked repeatedly to hold in-person hearings, and you assured me that this could be done safely,” Clyburn wrote to Scalise. “I was true to my word — I held this hearing in person, as you requested. Unfortunately, the Republican Members’ refusal to wear masks undermined the safety of everyone in the hearing room.”
McConnell did not reference the House GOP in his floor speech Monday but said nobody should be resisting masks because the country has not returned to normal, and the virus is still spreading.
“The more we hate the pain and suffering that accompanied the strict stay-home guidelines a few months ago, the happier we should be to take responsible small steps every day to ensure our country can stay on the offense against the virus,” he said.
