Political Quotes

“Madam President, I thank Senator Blunt for his statement. I join him in opposing this resolution. As chair of the Rules Committee, with oversight of the Sergeant at Arms who helps manage the Senate Page Program, I know, like Senator Blunt does and everyone here does--I see Senator Leahy is here, the Presiding Officer, and Senator Paul--how hard the dedicated pages, who come from States across the country, work to help us do our jobs here on the Senate floor. We are so excited when we have someone from our States come and join us as a page. They are, too, as are their families. As we continue to reopen the Capitol, which I strongly support, we must also take into account the health and safety of everyone who works and visits here, including our pages. This resolution would reverse the Page Program's--as Senator Blunt noted--current policy and prohibit any requirement for pages to be vaccinated against COVID-19. It would also prohibit requiring pages to undergo COVID testing or wear a mask regardless of guidance from the Office of the Attending Physician or the CDC. This includes reversing the policy that all pages must wear a mask if one tests positive--a commonplace rule to protect healthy pages, who all live in the same dormitory, which, I think, is the defining part of this. In light of recent events, we know that staff, Senators, as well as pages, have tested positive in the past few weeks. In light of these recent events, the Attending Physician, Dr.…”