'We should shut this place down': Republican Chip Roy rages at the House mask mandates while surrounded by maskless Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Andy Biggs
Texas Congressman Chip Roy raged against the House of Representatives' new mask mandate and accused the body of 'doing nothing for the American people' in remarks on the House floor Wednesday.
'This institution is a sham, and we should adjourn and shut this place down,' the Republican lawmaker said as a maskless Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene stood up to applaud.
Roy and Greene were reportedly joined by more than a dozen members of the House in defying the mask mandate, including Republican lawmakers Lauren Boebert, Andy Biggs and Matt Gaetz.
'It's absolutely absurd what this body is doing, the people's house,' Roy yelled to his fellow lawmakers. 'While we've got thousands of people pouring across our border, and Democrats don't do a darn thing about it, heavily infected with COVID.'
The infuriated lawmaker accused House Democrats of putting masks ahead of 'cartels raping and pillaging and killing' as the US grapples with dueling crises of the Delta variant and a record number of migrants pouring across the border illegally under the Biden administration's watch.
'We have people infected with COVID coming across our southern border into Texas, and you all put masks - masks up front here in the people's house?' Roy questioned.
'Which is it- vaccines or masks?'
The House's new mandate is in step with new CDC guidance for vaccinated Americans.
Rep. Chip Roy raged against the House's new mask rule in accordance with CDC guidelines on the House floor Wednesday, as a maskless Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sat behind him
Roy said House lawmakers should be more focused on the southern border crisis, where he claimed people 'heavily infected with COVID' were coming into the US
Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert was one of the lawmakers seen not wearing a mask on the House floor Wednesday
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged fully vaccinated individuals 'wear a mask in public indoor settings if they are in an area of substantial or high transmission.'
It said that 63.4 percent of counties now had levels high enough to warrant indoor masking.
Washington D.C. is rated as one of those areas, where the rate is 52 cases per 100,000. The CDC said Americans should resume wearing masks in areas where there are more than 50 new infections per 100,000 residents over the previous seven days.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy claimed the new CDC guidelines were not 'based on science' but from 'liberal government officials.'
'Make no mistake - the threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state,' McCarthy wrote on Twitter Tuesday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called McCarthy a 'moron' on Wednesday morning in response.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Rep. Kevin McCarthy a 'moron' to reporters after he said the CDC's updated guidance came from 'liberal government officials'
She was asked about the House Minority Leader's comments while getting into her SUV, and muttered 'He's such a moron.'
When asked about Pelosi's jab by reporters McCarthy replied, 'If she's so brilliant, can she explain to me where the science in the building changes between the House and the Senate.'
His comment refers to the fact the GOP-led Senate has not changed its mask guidance.
Other Republicans are also lining up to criticize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after US health officials went back on their previous guidance and urged vaccinated Americans to mask up indoors if they live in areas with high levels of COVID transmission.
'Today's decision, sadly, was driven by politics, not science,' Senator Ted Cruz said in a statement to DailyMail.com. 'Let me be clear: there should be no more COVID mandates, no mask mandates, no vaccine mandates, no vaccine passports, no lockdowns, and no school closures. Enough is enough.'
Republican lawmakers including Senators Ted Cruz and Marsha Blackburn lined up to bash the CDC's reversal on face coverings
The Texas Republican bashed the CDC as having 'lost its credibility' and said it was 'long past time we got back to trusting the American people, not unelected federal bureaucrats.'
One Pennsylvania lawmaker had a more colorful response to health experts.
When asked for comment Rep. Guy Reschenthaler's office referred Dailymail.com to the House member's Twitter where he posted a gif from the film Austin Powers while retweeting news of the CDC's update.
Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn pointed out that 'mask mandates undermine vaccine confidence.'
But many Republicans already expressed a lack of confidence in the vaccine - about 40 percent of Republicans are uncertain about the vaccine or are unwilling to be vaccinated, polling data published by the Morning Consult showed, compared to 16 percent of Democrats who voiced those concerns.
One Republican lawmaker posted a gif from the movie Austin Powers in reaction to the CDC's reversal
Republican Senator and former Florida Governor Rick Scott also attacked the CDC's new guidance. His successor, Governor Ron DeSantis, did the same
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is among a handful of GOP governors publicly standing against the CDC's guidance
Florida Senator Rick Scott said there was 'nothing to justify' the new guidance.
'Nope. We cannot cripple our economy again, destroy jobs again, destroy another year of education again & destroy small businesses again,' he tweeted.
Multiple Republican governors have also rejected the CDC's new guidance including Nebraska, Texas, Florida and South Dakota.
South Dakota's Kristi Noem accused the CDC of 'inconsistency' on Twitter.
'South Dakota's cases remain low. If you're worried about the virus, you're free to get vaccinated, wear a mask, or stay at home. But we won't be mandating anything. And the CDC's inconsistency doesn't help the American people,' Noem wrote Tuesday night.