Capitol Police deny arrest threat for flouting Pelosi mask mandate
US Capitol Police said Thursday there was “no reason” to arrest visitors and staff members who refuse to comply with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s renewed COVID-19 mask mandate.
The latest face covering furor began after Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) tweeted a copy of a bulletin for police stating: “If a visitor or staff member fails to wear a mask after a request is made to do so, the visitor or staff shall be denied entry to the House Office Buildings or House-side of the U.S. Capitol. Any person who fails to either comply or leave the premises after being asked to do so would be subject to an arrest for Unlawful Entry.”
The document was dated Wednesday and is scheduled to remain in effect for the rest of the year.
“In today’s edition of Pelosi’s abuse of power, Capitol Police have been directed to arrest staff and visitors to comply with her mask mandate for vaccinated individuals,” Cammack tweeted.
“Regarding the House mask rule, there is no reason it should ever come to someone being arrested,” Capitol Police said hours later in a statement on Twitter. “Anyone who does not follow the rules will be asked to wear a mask or leave the premises.”
Pelosi (D-Calif.) readopted the House’s indoor mask requirement on Tuesday, even though DC health officials had not done so. Pelosi’s decision closely followed the White House move on Tuesday to readopt an indoor mask mandate.
Members of Congress and aides accompanying them who break the new rule won’t be arrested, but will be reported to House leaders, who will dock their pay with $500 fines.
The Constitution says members of Congress are “privileged from Arrest” in most cases at the Capitol. The original police bulletin did not instruct officers to arrest or report unmasked people on the Senate side of the Capitol, where masks remain voluntary.
On Thursday afternoon, Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said that the city also would re-impose an indoor mask rule for all people, including those who have been vaccinated against the virus, effective on Saturday.
Most lawmakers and DC residents are vaccinated against COVID-19 but DC’s number of new cases is rising, particularly in poorer areas on the outskirts of the capital, where authorities are attempting to incentivize shots with $51 Visa gift cards.
According to DC government data, about 63 percent of city residents have had at least one vaccine shot and roughly 54 percent are fully vaccinated.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tore into Pelosi on Wednesday for her “hypocrisy” after she called him a “moron” for resisting her new mask mandate.
“Twice today I saw the speaker in a crowded room without a mask, less than 24 hours after imposing the mask mandate,” McCarthy said in a House floor speech.
McCarthy said that “what frustrates Americans the most is the hypocrisy” and he took a swipe at Pelosi’s infamous mid-pandemic maskless haircut.
“It’s kind of like telling America you can’t go get your hair cut, but you get caught on camera because you do it,” McCarthy said.
The CDC on Tuesday announced new guidelines on indoor mask wearing as COVID-19 cases rise due to the Delta variant of the virus, especially in areas with lower rates of vaccination.
The agency said that regions with higher rates of transmission should consider imposing indoor mask mandates, even on vaccinated people.
Fresh data on Tuesday afternoon showed DC crossing into the CDC’s “substantial” transmission bracket — meaning local officials are encouraged to consider indoor mask rules — with a seven-day total of slightly more than 50 cases per 100,000 residents.
