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Government has absolutely no business implementing new mask mandates! This is particularly true on Capitol Hill, which ought to be a shining example for our entire nation. Instead, it's become an exercise in irrational anxiety.

Whether you get vaccinated or not, that’s your own decision! I did. In fact, the overwhelming majority of members and staff in this place are vaccinated, and I’d bet money there’s a higher vaccination rate on Capitol Hill than most places throughout the world.

Despite that, the House of Representatives imposed another mask mandate on Tuesday. For some reason, however, masks are only a recommendation down the hall in the Senate!

I’ve already been fined $500 a while back for not wearing a mask on the House floor, even though I was in full compliance with the then-current recommendations from the CDC. I’ll probably be fined again, but will continue to fight it. Here’s the bottom line…

There is no ambiguity in the CDC data. Even with the new Delta variant, COVID hospitalization rates for people who have been fully vaccinated is currently 0.003%. That's three one-thousandths of one percent. And the COVID death rates among those who have been vaccinated are just a fraction of that!

In other words, most of the people here on Capitol Hill now have a greater chance of dying from a bee sting, car accident, or even a lightning strike than they do from COVID. The Americans I know simply don’t cower in fear over risks this small!

Governments on all levels need to stop with the mask mandates. If individuals choose to wear a mask, that’s their right and decision. But we’re well beyond the point in this pandemic where nanny-state government needs to be mandating their use.