Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) lambasted her Republican colleagues who refused to follow new safety rules at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, saying lawmakers who refused to use new metal detectors to do their work in Congress should get another job.
“For those that did that, first of all, we’re talking about your job,” Bush told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. “Let’s just look at it from the most basic level: If you work at McDonald’s you have to wear the uniform or you’re not working today.”
Many House Republicans refused to use the metal detectors on Tuesday evening when they entered the chamber to vote on a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to strip President Donald Trump of his powers. The Capitol safety measures were enacted after the violent insurrection there last week, fanned by Trump and his allies.
But as HuffPost’s Matt Fuller reported, at least 10 Republicans walked around the detectors as a group, disregarding Capitol Police officers who were guarding the door.
Bush’s comments came as another lawmaker, Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), attacked the use of metal detectors as an “appalling” infringement on his right to carry a gun.
“The speaker and her Democratic colleagues think an appropriate response is to prevent members from exercising their Second Amendment constitutional rights in the very place that wasn’t secure a week ago,” Steube said on the House floor. “This attack didn’t come from the inside; it came from the outside. And to respond by restricting members’ Second Amendment rights … is appalling.”
“Take note, America,” he said, “this is what you have to look forward to in the Joe Biden administration.
Bush said Tuesday night that her Republican colleagues were simply trying to “push the limits as far as they can.”
“You know what,” she added, “If they won’t abide by the simple things this job calls for, then go find another one.”