Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) and Chip Roy (R., Texas) have been fined over their refusal to wear masks on the House floor, the Ethics Committee said Wednesday.
The House panel said that the lawmakers were both fined by the House Sergeant-at-Arms for not wearing masks in the House chamber on August 2.
Roy will face a $500 fine after having previously received a first-offense warning in May. Greene, who was fined $500 in May, will face a $2,500 fine for her third offense.
Greene’s earlier $500 fine was upheld on appeal by the Ethics Committee. Neither lawmaker chose to file appeals with the Ethics panel to contest the fines related to August 2.
“Filing an appeal to tyrannical overlords is a futile gesture, and — if successful — would leave one without standing to sue, should the mood arise,” Roy said in a statement.
Five other Republican lawmakers were previously fined for flouting the House floor mask mandate: Representatives Thomas Massie (Ky.), Brian Mast (Fla.), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa) and Beth Van Duyne (Texas).
Greene, Massie and Norman filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to challenge the constitutionality of the fines after the House Ethics Committee rejected their appeals contesting the fines.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) first implemented a mask requirement on the House floor in July 2020. House Democrats later voted in January to make the mandate enforceable by fines.
Republicans criticized Capitol Physician Brian Monahan over his initial refusal to lift the House floor mask mandate even after the CDC said in May that fully vaccinated people did not need to wear masks in most settings.
The physician eventually lifted the mandate in June, only to reinstate it a month later amid rising concern over the highly-transmissible delta variant. Since then, dozens of House Republicans have protested the mask requirement.
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Considering they don’t stop the spread, and it’s dangerous to repeatedly breathe your own co2, not to mention the bacteria build up. There are about 40 independent studies provong they don’t work. It’s clearly just a symbol to keep your mouth shut.