Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene racks up $48,000 in fines for not wearing mask on House floor

Greene has been fined 20 times for failing to wear a face covering, according to her office. 

By Edward Era Barbacena

U.S. rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has been fined at least $48,000 since May for not wearing a mask on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.    

The fine was outlined in a letter from the House Sergeant at Arms to Greene that was obtained by USA TODAY. The letter states that the Republican lawmaker was warned in May about wearing a mask, and she was asked to wear a face-covering on multiple dates in May, July, August, September and October.  

Greene has been fined 20 times for failing to wear a face covering, according to her office. 

She was fined $500 for her first offense and $2,500 for each additional incident. The fines come from the lawmaker’s congressional salary, according to multiple reports.  

The House Sergeant at Arms letter was first reported by The Hill.  

In a statement to USA TODAY, Greene said she will “continue my stand on the House floor against authoritarian Democrat mandates, because I don’t want the American people to stand alone.” She compared Democratic lawmakers to “tyrannical dictators with mandates and lockdowns” amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.  

Last month, Greene tweeted she had racked up over $25,000 in mask fines. She said at the time that she refused “to wear a mask in the chamber where over 80% of Congress is vaccinated and I’m NOT sick.”  

The House Ethics Committee confirmed on Monday that Greene was disciplined four times in late September for not wearing a mask. The committee has previously confirmed three other occasions in which Greene was fined over the mask rule.  

NBC News reported that some of the dates in the sergeant at arms' letter do not align with information confirmed by the House Ethics Committee.   

The Senate does not require masks for lawmakers.  

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone 2 years of age and older who is not fully vaccinated should wear a mask in indoor public places. People who are fully vaccinated should wear a mask indoors if they are in an area of substantial or high transmission, while immunocompromised individuals should continue to take precautions recommended for unvaccinated people.