Sherrod Brown publicly shames Rand Paul for not wearing a mask on the Senate floor
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is not afraid to enforce Congress' mask mandate — and encourage some basic common sense.
Continuing his reputation for calling out his colleagues for not wearing masks, Brown on Thursday turned his attention to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). When Paul made a request to keep a vote to just 10 minutes, Brown responded with an unrelated objection: "I would like to ask Senator Paul, in front of everybody, to start wearing a mask on the Senate floor like the entire staff does all the time." "I wish Senator Paul would show the respect to his colleagues to wear a mask," he continued.
Brown also got into a dispute with Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) after asking the senator to put on a mask back in November. Video of that led Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to call Brown an "ass" for demanding Sullivan wear a mask "when nobody is remotely near him" — even though a Senate staffer's head is clearly visible in front of Sullivan in video of the incident.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Since Brown's brush with Sullivan, President Biden has mandated masks be worn on all federal property, including the Capitol building.
-
6 exquisite homes with vast acreageFeature Featuring an off-the-grid contemporary home in New Mexico and lakefront farmhouse in Massachusetts
-
Film reviews: ‘Wuthering Heights,’ ‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,’ and ‘Sirat’Feature An inconvenient love torments a would-be couple, a gonzo time traveler seeks to save humanity from AI, and a father’s desperate search goes deeply sideways
-
Political cartoons for February 16Cartoons Monday’s political cartoons include President's Day, a valentine from the Epstein files, and more
-
Judge blocks Hegseth from punishing Kelly over videoSpeed Read Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed for the senator to be demoted over a video in which he reminds military officials they should refuse illegal orders
-
Trump’s EPA kills legal basis for federal climate policySpeed Read The government’s authority to regulate several planet-warming pollutants has been repealed
-
House votes to end Trump’s Canada tariffsSpeed Read Six Republicans joined with Democrats to repeal the president’s tariffs
-
Bondi, Democrats clash over Epstein in hearingSpeed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi ignored survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and demanded that Democrats apologize to Trump
-
El Paso airspace closure tied to FAA-Pentagon standoffSpeed Read The closure in the Texas border city stemmed from disagreements between the Federal Aviation Administration and Pentagon officials over drone-related tests
-
Judge blocks Trump suit for Michigan voter rollsSpeed Read A Trump-appointed federal judge rejected the administration’s demand for voters’ personal data
-
US to send 200 troops to Nigeria to train armySpeed Read Trump has accused the West African government of failing to protect Christians from terrorist attacks
-
Grand jury rejects charging 6 Democrats for ‘orders’ videoSpeed Read The jury refused to indict Democratic lawmakers for a video in which they urged military members to resist illegal orders
