McCarthy slams Pelosi ‘hypocrisy’ on mask mandates after she calls him ‘moron’
WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tore into Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday for her “hypocrisy” after she called him a “moron” for resisting her new COVID-19 mask mandate.
McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Pelosi’s renewed House mask mandate — with $500 fines for violators — wasn’t based on science and that she “broke her own rules” at least twice on Wednesday.
“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.
Pelosi’s mandate is not backed up by local DC masking orders or matched by the Senate across the Capitol. She quickly reimposed the mask rule after the CDC said Tuesday that communities with high rates of COVID-19 transmission should consider requiring all people to wear masks, including vaccinated people.
McCarthy said, however, that “what frustrates Americans the most is the hypocrisy” and he took a swipe at Pelosi’s infamous mid-pandemic haircut without wearing a mask.
“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 war of words became unusually vitriolic after Pelosi told reporters that McCarthy is “such a moron” for arguing that the resumed mask rule is unscientific.
He returned fire in an indignant speech saying that he feared that Democrats are trying to cling on to pandemic restrictions, including possibly refusing to reopen schools in the fall.
“Even though the odds are better you get struck by lightning than being hospitalized if you’re vaccinated, we’re all going to have to wear a mask or we have to pay $500,” McCarthy fumed on the House floor.
“The vaccination rate for the members of Congress is over 85 percent and as of today, the transmission rate on the Capitol campus is less than 1 percent. The facts would tell us this is not a hotspot. So the CDC recommendation doesn’t apply to us.”
Pelosi (D-Calif.) reimposed the indoor mask rule for House members Wednesday, citing “science, science, science” — despite the local DC government not re-adopting a citywide indoor mask mandate pursuant to the CDC’s new guidelines.
Asked about the insult, McCarthy fired back at Pelosi: “If she’s so brilliant, can she tell me where science in the building changes between the House and the Senate?”
The Democratic leader’s personal attack was an unusual breach of Capitol Hill’s typical niceties. House members often refer to each other as “my good friend,” even if they aren’t actually close.
Pelosi said that she was complying with the advice of the Capitol attending physician, Dr. Brian Monahan, in making mask-wearing mandatory on the House side of the Capitol.
But Republicans who met with Monahan on Wednesday said that he cited a study on COVID-19 transmission in India, where different vaccines are used.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), the co-chair of the GOP Doctors Caucus, told The Post that “some of that data is even foreign and not even relevant if they weren’t using the same vaccines that we were using.”
And a senior GOP aide told The Post that the doctor “admitted that Pelosi reviews the guidance… even though they claim it comes from him.”
Still, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) defended Pelosi on the House floor, saying that some lawmakers represent areas with an uptick in infections, and that they travel back and forth from those regions to DC.
The CDC’s new indoor mask guidelines sparked confusion Tuesday — including at the White House, where Vice President Kamala Harris almost immediately put on a face covering and forced reporters and guests at an event to join her.
Local DC health officials say they are evaluating the new CDC guidelines. Although the city has a high rate of vaccination, the Delta variant of the virus has caused an uptick in cases, 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, an estimated 62.7 percent of DC residents have had at least one vaccine shot and 53.8 percent are fully vaccinated. The rates of vaccination are much higher among middle-age and senior citizen residents.
Fresh data on Tuesday afternoon showed DC crossing into the CDC’s “substantial” transmission bracket — meaning local officials should consider indoor mask rules under the new CDC guidelines — with a seven-day average of slightly more than 50 cases per 100,000 residents.
