House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) took to the House floor on Wednesday to deliver an impassioned speech about the use of face masks and science, specifically targeting Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for her blatant “hypocrisy” after she “broke her own rules” following a new mask mandate for the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Earlier today, Speaker of the House said that people who are fully vaccinated, but don’t support wearing a mask, are morons,” McCarthy said. “She went on to say that the House should follow the science. Madam Speaker, you don’t know the facts or the science, so let’s talk about it.” He went on:
The Speaker is referring to the CDC’s current recommendation. I just left speaking with Dr. Monahan from the House. He said he used the CDC recommendation on a report that hasn’t been printed yet. He did not know that the report is based upon India, about a vaccine that is not approved in America… and now he did not know that it didn’t even pass peer review.
“That’s why vaccinated people in this House now have to wear a mask,” McCarthy added. “There is no science, but I guess the Speaker must have not known that.”
McCarthy went on to say that “hypocrisy” is what “frustrates Americans the most,” offering praise for former President Donald Trump’s administration in efforts to get vaccines to Americans quickly.
First they tell us don’t wear a mask, wear a mask or two masks, then take the mask off. They said if Americans would get vaccinated, we’d get our lives back… and we did, thanks to Operation Warp Speed and the past administration. What [Americans] also hate about hypocrisy is when you break your own rules. It’s kind of like telling America you can’t go get your hair cut, but you get caught on camera cause you do it. Or you tell people you can’t go out to dinner, but in my state, the same state [Pelosi] got the haircut, that governor went out to dinner with a lot of people.
“Today, the Speaker, who didn’t know even know her own science and said names to people, broke her own rules,” McCarthy said. “Twice today I saw the Speaker in a crowded room without a mask, less than 24 hours after imposing the mask mandate…”
“Could this be a plan to keep our schools closed,” McCarthy questioned, saying that President Joe Biden’s administration, and now the U.S. House “has broken this country’s trust.”
McCarthy also said the “science changes somewhere around the rotunda” of the U.S. Capitol as members of the U.S. Senate are also located in the same building and are not required to wear masks.
McCarthy said sarcastically:
You see, you have to wear your mask here, or otherwise you’re fined, because that’s what government should do, it should punish people. You get vaccinated… but if you walk across the hall, you get somewhere around the rotunda, you don’t have to wear it anymore. Somehow the science is different.
“Americans want to get back to work, back to school, and back to health, but we now have a majority that doesn’t wanna base anything on science,” McCarthy said in conclusion, recommending that “all Americans get a vaccine.”
In closing his speech, McCarthy, without naming him, also took a jab at Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), who is running for Senate in the Buckeye State.
“The gentleman over there is gonna run for the Senate,” McCarthy said. “Maybe he wants to do that so he doesn’t have to wear a mask. The science over there is better. I yield back.”
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