US Speaker Pelosi calls McCarthy a 'moron' for opposing mask rule based on India study

United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has termed Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy a “moron” after he slammed the Democratic Party and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reimpose the mask mandate for COVID-19 vaccinated people in certain circumstances. Congressman McCarthy is also the House Minority Leader and was publicly denouncing the bill that proposed to reinstitute a mask mandate in the House of Representatives. He even alleged that the latest CDC recommendations are based on an unproven report, without specifying the same.

“President Biden’s CDC can’t make up its mind. One mask. Two masks. No masks. Back to one mask. Their new guidance for vaccinated individuals to wear a mask is based exclusively on a study FROM INDIA—which has NOT passed peer review—using vaccines that are NOT APPROVED in the US, " he said on Twitter. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed the critics of the bill and described McCarthy as a “moron.”

McCarthy supported by Republican colleagues

Shortly after McCarthy tweeted about the bill, his Republican colleague Congressman Dan Crenshaw supported him on social media. Crenshaw wrote, “Here's the truth, America: The "game changer" data, the CDC used for the mask mandate, is from a single study from India. The study was rejected in a peer review. But the CDC used it, anyway. Remember what I said about public health officials losing our trust? It gets worse.”

The US lawmakers shared the war of words after the United States Capitol attending the physician sent a message on July 27 saying that everyone, irrespective of the COVID-19 vaccination status should wear masks when indoors. The document had also stated that such coronavirus guidelines must be followed in the House. In a press conference on July 28, Pelosi answered a question saying, “The Republican Party has been delinquent in embracing the science that people need to be vaccinated.  And that's why, when we talk about the masking policy in the House, we always just follow the guidance of the Capitol physician.”

“There is no discussion about ‘should we do it, should we not’ for one reason or another.  It's [the] decision of the Capitol physician, who is following the guidance of the CDC about the masks.  Well, people have known for a long time that we need to do the vaccinations,” she added.

IMAGE: AP