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- Rep. Brad Schneider has tested positive for COVID-19, he announced on Tuesday.
- “Today, I am now in strict isolation, worried that I have risked my wife’s health and angry at the selfishness and arrogance of the anti-maskers who put their own contempt and disregard for decency ahead of the health and safety of their colleagues and our staff,” Schneider said.
- The Illinois Democrat is the third member of Congress to contract the virus since the Capitol siege last Wednesday when lawmakers spent hours on lockdown. Some Republicans refused to wear masks at the time.
- Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state and Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey have also tested positive for the coronavirus.
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Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois has tested positive for COVID-19, he announced on Tuesday, censuring his fellow lawmakers for neglecting to follow public health guidelines during the Capitol siege.
“Today, I am now in strict isolation, worried that I have risked my wife’s health and angry at the selfishness and arrogance of the anti-maskers who put their own contempt and disregard for decency ahead of the health and safety of their colleagues and our staff,” Schneider said in a statement.
“We can no longer tolerate Members coming to the floor or gathering in the halls of Congress without doing the bare minimum to protect those around them,” he continued. “Those that flout public health guidance should be sanctioned and immediately removed from the House floor by the Sergeant at Arms for their reckless endangerment of their colleagues.”
Lawmakers have been encouraged to get tested for coronavirus following Wednesday’s rampage, when swaths of pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol building and forced Congress to shelter in place. Several Congress members, particularly Republicans, had refused to wear masks during the hours-long lockdown.
—Rep. Brad Schneider (@RepSchneider) January 12, 2021
Schneider, a Democrat, is the third member of Congress to contract the illness since the breach. Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state and Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, also Democrats, announced on Monday that they have tested positive, and similarly laid blame on their colleagues for failing to wear masks.
Jayapal has argued for "serious fines to be immediately levied on every single Member who refuses to wear a mask in the Capitol."
The positive cases come as the House is scheduled to vote on a resolution on Tuesday evening that would call on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office. If Pence doesn't act, Democrats have signaled that they plan to move forward with impeachment. On Monday, they formally introduced an article of impeachment against Trump, charging him with incitement of insurrection.
Schneider said that he isn't experiencing any symptoms yet, and plans to vote by proxy.
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