Ted Cruz mocks the Biden administration for abandoning the mask mandate in Congress before his State of the Union speech
- On February 14, the mayor of Washington DC announced that the indoor mask mandate would be lifted on March 1
- Muriel Bowser, the mayor, said the decision had been made because COVID transmission rates were low and falling
- The decision meant that Joe Biden’s State of the Union address was the first time in two years that Congress was packed with unmasked people
- Critics such as Ted Cruz said that Biden had orchestrated the move, to show in an act of political theatre that he was winning the war on COVID
- Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said earlier Tuesday that Bowser’s announcement ‘had nothing to do with the timing around the State of the Union’
Senator Ted Cruz on Tuesday questioned the timing of the lifting of Washington DC’s mask mandate – noting that it coincided with Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address, and describing it mockingly as a ‘miracle’.
Tuesday saw the lifting of the city’s mask mandate, which meant that Congress was packed with maskless politicians for the first time in two years.
The lifting of the mandate was announced by the mayor of Washington DC, Muriel Bowser, on February 14.
Cruz, however, thought it was more than a coincidence.
‘It’s a State of the Union miracle!’ he tweeted on Monday.
The mask mandate in Washington DC was lifted on Tuesday, just in time for the State of the Union address
Jim Jordan, the staunchly conservative Ohio congressman, agreed, claiming: ‘The “science” didn’t change. Just the politics.’
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki denied that the lifting of the ban had been coordinated with the State of the Union.
‘The president is very powerful, but he couldn’t make us be in the green zone that we’re in right now in D.C.,’ she said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
‘That’s why we’re not going to be required to wear a masks.
‘It had nothing to do with the timing around the State of the Union.’
Washington DC currently has a weekly case rate of 73.1 per 100,000 – down from 324 per 100,000 a month ago.
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