Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn expressed “profound disappointment” on Monday that Republican members of the Coronavirus Crisis Select Subcommittee refused to wear masks during a Friday hearing.
“I am writing to express my profound disappointment that the Republican Members of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis refused to wear masks during Friday’s hearing. … The Attending Physician of the Congress has issued clear, unequivocal guidelines that require Members to wear masks at all committee hearings,” Clyburn wrote to Republican Rep. Steve Scalise from Louisiana.
Clyburn represents South Carolina’s 6th Congressional District and chairs the subcommittee. Scalise is its ranking member.
The panel on Friday heard testimony from U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro on a new report from the Government Accountability Office that mentioned the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that called for wearing face masks to help slow the spread of the virus.
The hearing was conducted in person at the request of Republican members, none of whom wore a mask during the hearing, which Clyburn said undermined the safety of everyone in the hearing room.
“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,” he wrote.
Clyburn has asked members who do not wish to wear a mask to participate in future hearings remotely.
