Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is confident that the US Senate need not do the same with its own mask mandate, such as the one that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued on Wednesday to Representative Louie Gohmert’s positive coronavirus test light.
“I think we are covering every base we have and you don’t have to have a rule,” Grassley told Fox News, citing the fact that most senators wore masks on the Senate floor when votes were cast and votes were cast. employees. maintain social distance in offices with members.
This all comes after Congressional attending physician Dr. Brian Monahan issued an “important notice” on Pelosi’s order to request that their faces be covered in all of the House’s office buildings, as well as in the Chamber floor.
REP. LOUIE GOHMERT POSITIVE TEST FOR CORONAVIRUSES BEFORE PLANNING TO FLY WITH TRUMP TO TEXAS
Calls for periodic virus testing for members and staff have also been renewed in light of positive Gohmert test results. Unlike the White House, where President Trump is evaluated daily, there is no consistent evaluation regime for elected representatives in the halls of Congress and their assistants.
“I think we should wear the masks. However, I also think we should have evidence here,” said House of Representatives minority leader Kevin McCarthy. “I know the speaker had turned down the opportunity to have the Abbott rapid test that they have at the White House. More than two months ago I explained how to do the tests, how to open this building safely, and I think we need to look at that.”
Gohmert, a Texas Republican, is the ninth member of Congress to test positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, along with Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, and Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican from Florida. Some members who were close to Gohmert in the past few days have decided to quarantine for 14 days as a precaution, such as representatives Kay Granger, R-Texas and Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz.
As the mask debate heats up in Congress, talks are underway for the next phase of the coronavirus relief package before the August recess. Those discussions are at a standstill as Republicans in the Senate and White House try to get on the same page, while House Democrats support their HEROES Act.
The Republican $ 1 trillion bill is the alternative to the House HEROES bill, the $ 3 trillion relief legislation passed in May. The HEALS Act represents the package’s focus on health, financial assistance, liability protection, and schools.
The relief legislation includes $ 105 billion in school funding, more than the House offered in its proposal, with the goal of modernizing schools and universities with coronavirus precautions to open learning on campus.
NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR ROBERT O’BRIEN TESTS POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUSES
It also includes a second round of stimulus checks in the same amount of $ 1,200 as in the CARES Act, along with a “sequel” to the Paycheck Protection Program to mitigate layoffs.
However, Grassley remains optimistic about an agreement reached.
“I see it this way,” he said. “I would like next Friday to have a compromise between what the House of Representatives passed and what we put on the table on Monday, a giant compromise that will be resolved … So if we could deal with unemployment, let’s take care of people who they are not being evicted, and we can get enough money for schools and universities to work this fall, I think we should approve those three things by next Friday. “
The debate over whether to approve a short-term extension of unemployment insurance benefits before it expires on Friday in lieu of a massive general aid bill has become a major point of conflict.
Speaking on the floor, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., had harsh words for his colleagues on the opposite side of the aisle saying, “As the country is about to fall off several cliffs as a result of the Republican backward, hesitant and disunited, our friends on the other side are now struggling. Now you are realizing, not a week, not three weeks, or two months ago, that we were facing a precipice of unemployment. “
However, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who lead the discussions on behalf of the president, say they will not be blamed for unemployed Americans who do not receive aid.
“If the increase in unemployment expires, it will not be because of the Senate Republicans and the president … we are still miles apart on a number of issues … there are more issues that we are separated from,” Meadows told reporters. on Wednesday.
Fox’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
