Failing the Test
Those individuals elected to serve in the U.S. Senate were sworn in on Tuesday by the presiding officer, as named in the Constitution…the vice president.
This, of course, in contrast with the U.S. House, whose members cannot be sworn in unless by the Speaker of the House…and until there’s one of those, no one can be sworn in.
Typically, after the mass swearing in event, there are individual photo ops between the presiding officer and the newly-sworn-in member, with his or her family gathererd around.
Vice President Kamela Harris and her office issued a memorandum indicating that anyone above the age of 2 who would be participating in the photo needed to show a current negative COVID test. I’ll let you determine how appropriate such a rule is.
What struck me, however, was the position of former Congressman and now U.S. Senator from Oklahoma Markwayne Mullin. He declined to require his family to subject themselves to a cattle call type test, which is so well known for false positives that the boxes containing these rapid tests have had the labeling changed to say they test for COVID, plus Influenza A and B…in short, they say you have something, but are no more specific than that.
Mullin said that “COVID just exists for those who are in the bubble” and that his family has things to do back in Oklahoma, such as going to school and a wrestling tournament. He said he was concerned about the negative impact of a false positive test on their lives.
And he noted, “I don’t need a photo with Kamela Harris.”
I find the direct response refreshing, in the wake of hypocrisy that normally permeates the capital. Skip the photo, let’s get to work…not a bad attitude that more should emulate.
