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Senate Dems reportedly adopt ‘Don’t Test, Don’t Tell’ protocol, skipping COVID rules to push spending vote

August 6, 2022 | | Print Article

After years of lecturing Americans about the need for them to abide by COVID restrictions, Democrats are now reportedly throwing out all the rules to make certain they have enough votes to pass the so-called Inflation Reduction Act this weekend.

To push the bill through the Senate, all 50 Democrat senators must be present, meaning none of them can be at home sick with COVID. And so to prevent the latter scenario from interfering with their plans, Senate Democrats have reportedly instituted a stunning “Don’t Test, Don’t Tell” rule, according to Puck News.

“Senate Democrats, some of whom have decried their G.O.P. colleagues’ lenient attitude toward masking, have adopted an unofficial ‘Don’t Test, Don’t Tell,’ protocol of late, particularly as they endeavor to pass the historic Inflation Reduction Act this weekend,” the new media outlet reported Friday.

Speaking with the outlet, one unnamed senior Senate aide said, “They’re not going to delay it if a member has gotten COVID. Counterparts are saying they’re not going to test anymore. It’s not an official mandate but we all know we’re not letting COVID get in the way. The deal is happening. Less testing, just wear masks and get it done.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer appears to be in on it. When asked about a plan B in case any senator contracts COVID, he claimed that the only plan is for everybody “to stay healthy.”

“We’re not talking about a plan B. We’re going to stay healthy,” he said.

Except that’s not how the world works. With COVID still spreading, anyone can test positive at any time. In fact, Sens. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, and Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, just tested positive roughly a week ago:

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, also a Democrat, has tested positive for COVID seven days in a row.

But it gets worse.

Another Senate insider reportedly said that in case any senator does contract COVID, “you can bring your ventilator and still vote.”

That doesn’t sound very safe for everybody else …

And remember, these are the same Democrats who’ve lectured both the American people and their Republican colleagues ad nauseam.

Flashback to the fall of 2020, when Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett faced her confirmation vote. At the time, Schumer had no tolerance for testing games.

“Every Senator and relevant staff must have negative tests on two consecutive days and have completed the appropriate quarantining period, and there should be mandatory testing every day of the [confirmation] hearing,” he said in a statement at the time.

“Testing must be administered by an independent entity, such as the Attending Physician of the United States Congress. Failure to implement a thorough testing approach would be intentionally reckless, and could reasonably lead some wonder if Chairman [Lindsey] Graham and Leader [Mitch] McConnell may not want to know the results.”

Schumer then added without a trace of introspection, “Make no mistake about it, Americans are seeing the similarities between Republicans’ willingness to put their colleagues and staff at risk in pursuit of power, and their willingness to strip healthcare from tens of millions of Americans in pursuit of their ideological goals.”

Couldn’t a similar argument be made about Democrats and their willingness to place their colleagues at risk in the pursuit of a widely criticized bill that critics say is poised to beef up the IRS, decimate American manufacturing, increase the cost of energy, raise taxes on all Americans, and worsen inflation?

This hypocrisy from Democrats is nothing new. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, they’ve lectured people in one breath and then violated COVID rules in another. Schumer included.

Back in November, the Senate Majority Leader was spotted partying maskless despite rules forcing 2-year-old school children to mask up.

His most notorious act of hypocrisy occurred in July of 2020, when, while many businesses still remained closed and anti-lockdown protests were being demonized, he flagrantly protested with Black Lives Matter activists.

Watch:

It appears that to Democrats, the rules only ever apply to everybody else and never to them …

Vivek Saxena
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