The temper within the Capitol was already darkish. Then got here Omicron

Across the nation, the omicron variant has despatched coronavirus infections into the stratosphere. Winter climate and empty cabinets have turned moods surly. Americans have turned on one another over vaccinations, mandates and masks.
And on the U.S. Capitol, the place all method of individuals are thrown collectively in an sad stew, the second was crystallized this week in a hot-mic episode. In an audible whisper, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s prime infectious illness skilled, summed up his emotions for an additional doctor, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan.
“What a moron,” Fauci stated Tuesday after a testy trade with the senator over the infectious illness skilled’s monetary disclosures. “Jesus Christ.”
Just when it appeared as if the environment on Capitol Hill couldn’t worsen, omicron got here to city. At least 129 House members and senators have introduced a coronavirus an infection for the reason that outset of the pandemic, almost one-quarter of the lawmakers in Congress. A baker’s dozen introduced infections prior to now week alone. A masks mandate that has been solely fitfully revered by Republicans within the House was turned up a notch to require solely N95s and KN95s — and compliance is simply as spotty.
Social distancing is again; when the physique of Harry Reid, the previous Senate majority chief, lay in state within the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday, chairs had been organized a number of toes aside. The grand atrium of the Capitol Visitor Center, as soon as stuffed with vacationers, has been reconfigured with stanchions to demarcate the COVID-19 testing line for lawmakers and employees members.
Schadenfreude is in full tilt.
Democrats cackled about what Fauci known as Marshall; Republicans countered by invoking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who was noticed maskless in Miami Beach late final month. Her workplace introduced Sunday that she had examined optimistic for the virus.
Of course, it’s no laughing matter. Two Republicans have died after contracting COVID-19 — Rep. Ron Wright of Texas and Rep.-elect Luke Letlow of Louisiana — and the refusal of some lawmakers on the proper fringe to put on a masks within the hustle and bustle of House flooring votes has some colleagues fearing for his or her well being.
“I see people — members, staff — without masks,” the House sergeant-at-arms, William J. Walker, a former District of Columbia National Guard commander, stated this week. “I’ll walk up to them and ask them to put the mask on. Some just walk away from me.”
On the House flooring Wednesday, Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., walked via the nicely on two prosthetic legs, smiling broadly with out his masks. In the again of the chamber, Georgia’s maskless duo, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Andrew Clyde, each Republicans, held court docket seemingly with out a care, certain to get fined for his or her rule-breaking however assured their fortunes might deal with it.
(Greene’s father constructed a major Atlanta-area constructing firm earlier than promoting it to his daughter and son-in-law, whereas Clyde’s hulking gun store, Clyde Armory, has stored him flush. They have already absorbed greater than $100,000 in fines for his or her masks strike.)
Speaking simply outdoors the chamber together with his masks off, Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., was nonchalant. Omicron is delicate, he stated, and the steep rise in instances, in his dwelling county on Long Island and throughout the nation, will likely be adopted by an equally steep decline.
“Those who are testing positive include the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, but for those I speak to — and there are many who have tested positive in recent weeks — fortunately for them, every single person I’ve spoken to has had a much milder experience than what was experienced in past variants,” stated Zeldin, who’s working for governor of New York.
Democrats are usually rather less sanguine. Signs posted all through the House proclaim in all capital letters “USE OF FACE COVERINGS REQUIRED,” however they seem to have solely made the defiant dig in.
“That kind of defiance, we see it all across the board here,” stated Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the Democratic whip, who missed his granddaughter’s marriage ceremony final month as he battled COVID-19. “And these are people who I hope will be able to survive whatever comes their way.”
The procedural machinations round voting rights laws and the hand-wringing over President Joe Biden’s social security web and local weather change invoice can appear a bit irrelevant when instances are hovering, hospitalizations nationwide are up 84% over the previous two weeks and the typical variety of deaths now exceeds 1,700 a day.
Behind these marquee points, the pandemic is once more rising as a political focus. House Democrats on Wednesday rushed out new laws to offer free at-home coronavirus exams whereas Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., reintroduced his invoice to ship N95 masks to each dwelling.
For their half, Republicans appeared to have decided that the true victims of the virus had been those that refused to be vaccinated in opposition to it.
House Republican leaders pressured Democrats to vote on a procedural movement to make sure that service members discharged for refusing to be vaccinated wouldn’t lose their GI Bill advantages. It failed.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and 19 different House members on the celebration’s proper flank additionally launched a invoice to dam the District of Columbia from requiring vaccinations to enter institutions like eating places, golf equipment and live performance venues.
The battle that erupted this week between Fauci and Marshall was over a critical problem, as was a conflict between the infectious illness skilled and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky..
Paul, an ophthalmologist, accused Fauci and the director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis S. Collins, of collaborating to smear scientists who disagreed with them. That prompted Fauci to recount the arrest of a California man who was driving throughout the nation with an AR-15; the person was accused of planning to kill Fauci, amongst different public figures.
And although Fauci might simply parry Marshall’s insinuation that he was one way or the other hiding his monetary disclosure data, few might argue with the senator’s assertion that authorities messages have been blended and complicated on quarantine lengths and testing throughout the omicron surge.
“The American people, my family, all of our families, are struggling as this pandemic continues to drag on with no end in sight,” Marshall stated throughout a sparsely attended listening to, depleted of contributors and observers due to COVID-19’s resurgence. “The words I hear every day, multiple times each day, continue to resonate and echo in my mind, words like, ‘I’m tired, confused, burned out.’”
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., agreed Wednesday that the temper within the Capitol mirrored the temper at dwelling.
“Obviously it’s a very difficult time,” he stated. “We all thought we’d be on top of the virus now. We’re clearly not.”
He added: “We’ll get through it. The country’s seen a lot darker days than these.”