Clyburn Calls Out Republican Members For Refusing to Wear Masks, Threatens to End In-Person Meetings

As Chairman of the House Oversight Committee’s Coronavirus Crisis subcommittee, House Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) dressed down Republican members for refusing to wear a face mask on Friday.

“Since some members are appearing in person, let me first remind everyone that pursuant to the latest guidelines from the House Attending Physician, all individuals attending this and other hearings in person should be wearing face masks,” declared Clyburn. “Now, I did not make these rules — that’s the attending physician’s rule — and after this meeting I will consult with the attending physician and other authorities and will make a determination as to whether or not we should recognize the people in the hearing who do not wear face masks.”

Later on, Clyburn held up a document and declared, “This is the document from the attending physician, and I ought to read it.”

“‘House of Representatives meetings in a limited, enclosed space such as a committee hearing room for greater then 15 minutes, face coverings are required.’ In all-caps. That’s not me. That’s the attending physician,” he explained. “And we’re not going to have another meeting in a confined space for more than 15 minutes if we are not going to abide by this.”

“I will stay in the safety of my home like I will ask all of you to do,” Clyburn continued. “I grew up believing that the first sign of a good education is good manners. I think it’s good manners to look out for your fellow — and I see all the staff wearing masks. I don’t know what this is.”

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) responded by criticizing the guidelines, and invoking Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), a doctor: “As Dr. Green pointed out, there are guidelines out there for how to properly social distance and we’re following those. And again, I understand doctors might look at things differently and want to give even extra precautions, but the precautions that have been out there are clearly being followed and Doctor Green pointed that out.”

“None of us would want to put anybody else in harm’s way,” he insisted, adding, “It’s why the House has been having votes on the House floor safely, properly, with social distancing, with the necessary supplies to make sure we can wipe down spaces.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) shot back at Scalise, responding, “I really wish, Mr. Chairman, we could work this out pursuant to your suggestion following the exact instructions of the Capitol Physician.”

“Look, we don’t have a cure right now, we don’t have the treatment, and we definitely don’t have a vaccine. We’ve got one thing, which is the public health guidance from Dr. Fauci, the Centers for Disease Control, and the vast majority of the doctors in the land who do not think this is a hoax, who do not think this is invented, and they don’t think it’s political, and there’s one thing we can do,” Raskin declared. “We can put our masks on and we can keep our distance.”

“I don’t understand why my friends in the minority, who I know are sincerely motivated people, would lambaste the majority for trying to keep the continuity of government going with committee meetings, online with remote or through proxy voting, and say, ‘Everybody needs to be here, everybody needs to be here,’ and then show up and not wear masks and put terror and fear in your colleagues and perhaps your staff,” he went on, noting, “Ms. Waters lost her sister to this disease. We have lots of colleagues who have gotten Covid-19. We’ve lost more than one 125,000 of our countrymen and women.”

“There’s no other country in the world in which wearing a mask has become a political or ideological statement,” Raskin concluded. “It’s a public health measure.”

Watch above via C-SPAN 2.