Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) talks to the media during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on July 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has been hit with four additional fines for defying mask rules on the House floor, bringing the total number of financial penalties the lawmaker has received to at least $48,000.
The House Ethics Committee said in a statement on Nov. 8 that on four occasions from Sept. 29 through Oct. 4, Greene refused to comply with House rules requiring that face masks be worn on the House floor.
Established in January this year, the House floor mask mandate penalizes violators $500 for a first offense and $2,500 for subsequent violations.
According to the committee’s statement, the Republican lawmaker did not appeal any of the four fines issued on Sept. 29, Sept. 30, Oct. 1, and Oct. 4.
Nick Dyer, Communications Director for Greene, previously confirmed in a statement to The Epoch Times that the lawmaker had been hit with 20 fines for a total of $48,000 in financial penalties. Those fines were issued on July 29, Aug. 2, Sept. 20, 21, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, and Oct. 1, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, and 27, the spokesman said in an email on Nov. 2.
A letter issued to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene detailing a total of 20 fines for defying the House floor mask mandate. (Supplied: Nick Dyer, communications director)
It isn’t clear whether the committee’s most recent fines overlap with those mentioned in the letter to the lawmaker above. The Epoch Times has reached out to a spokesman for Greene for clarification on the matter.
“Over the past year and a half, Communist Democrats have ruled our country as tyrannical dictators with mandates and lock downs,” Greene told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement last week. “Now, the American people have had enough and are standing up against these outrageous and unconstitutional policies.”
“I will continue my stand on the House floor against authoritarian Democrat mandates, because I don’t want the American people to stand alone,” she added.
The House mask mandate is part of a resolution passed on Jan. 12 that states that the sergeant-at-arms “is authorized and directed to impose a fine against a Member, Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner for the failure to wear a mask in contravention of the Speaker’s announced policies” of Jan. 4.
All fines imposed as a result of the House mask rules are deducted from members’ congressional annual pay of $174,000.
Greene alongside Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) in late July filed a lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), calling the mask rule “unconstitutional.”
The Republican lawmakers said that the face coverings are “oppressive” and “nothing but a political tool,” citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance that outlined that people fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, were generally no longer required to wear masks or social distance.
Previous guidance from the CDC had recommended that people wear masks if they were within six feet of others outside, regardless of their vaccination status.
