Growing list of Republicans will not attend SOTU over testing mandate

Several Republican lawmakers have said they will not attend President Biden’s Tuesday State of the Union address because of the mandated coronavirus testing before the speech.

“I’m healthy, so I won’t be taking a test for COVID… so I won’t be attending the #SOTU,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said in a tweet Tuesday.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) had announced on Monday that he would not attend Biden’s speech because he did not have the time to get tested for the virus. 

“I don’t have time to go take a COVID test today. I only take a test if I’m sick,” Rubio said. 

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) agreed with Rubio’s decision, saying in a quote tweet that he, too, would miss the address.

GOP Reps. Mary Miller (Ill.), Bob Good (Va.), Matt Rosendale (Mont.) and Andrew Clyde (Ga.), meanwhile, all told The Daily Caller that they would not attend the speech. 

“Members of Congress should not be subject to COVID-19 tests and social distance when it is not necessary, and the entire nation has ended most, if not all, coronavirus restrictions,” Rosendale told the outlet.

“I will not submit to an unnecessary COVID test to attend a State of the Union only to hear this President whisper through a speech that will inevitably fail to take responsibility for the tremendous damage he has and continues to cause to our country,” Good told the Caller.

Capitol physician Brian Monahan told lawmakers on Sunday that masking would be made optional in the Capitol complex ahead of Biden’s first State of the Union, though a negative coronavirus test is required and guests of lawmakers will not be allowed.

“Individuals may choose to mask at any time, but it is no longer a requirement,” Monahan wrote in a letter.