Republicans and Democrats, for much of the pandemic, have strongly disagreed over what regulations should be formed to keep the Capitol — and the public at large — safe.
And almost two years after the first cases in the U.S., things are getting worse, not better, when it comes to people obeying the rules.
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Many Republicans have regarded it as good politics to push back against Democratic rules on masks.
Two far-Right Republicans, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Andrew Clyde of Georgia, have been fined at least $148,500 combined for repeatedly defying the House chamber's mask mandate. The fines have won additional attention for Greene and Clyde, who have used their rejection to wear masks as a badge of honor.
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Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee this week declined to comply with a demand from Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) for all members to get tested for COVID-19 before attending a scheduled briefing on Iran.
The House Intelligence Committee's ranking Republican, Rep. Michael Turner (Ohio), made a point on Wednesday of declaring at the weekly GOP leadership press conference that he and other members of the panel wouldn't agree to get tested before the closed-door briefing set for the next day.
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The Capitol complex has its own COVID-19 testing site for lawmakers and staff, who can obtain PCR test results typically within the same day.
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Turner didn't dispute the value of testing, but rather claimed that lawmakers shouldn't get to take advantage of easy access to COVID-19 testing when many Americans have had difficulty finding tests in recent weeks.
"The American public does not have this privilege and we will not comply. The Biden Administration failed to plan for needed testing for the American people. Schiff believes that he should have a privilege that the average American worker does not. Our members will not comply with Schiff's request that we submit to COVID testing just to do our job," Turner announced.
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Differences over rules sometimes are less about politics and more about the general fatigue over the virus that has grown a part of everyday life
Even amid the highly transmissible Omicron variant, many Republicans eschew masks in the Capitol hallways outside the chamber where the House mask mandate is in effect but isn't enforceable with fines.
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The fights over COVID-19 precautions are emblematic of the increasingly nasty environment in the House, where the pandemic has driven an already-divided body even further apart.
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Infuriated Democrats perceive Republicans as unconcerned regarding potentially getting other people sick, while Republicans are angry over rules that they think are unnecessarily restrictive.
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