9 Illinois House Republicans removed for refusing to wear masks while in session

Members of the Illinois House voted Thursday to remove nine Republican representatives who refused to wear masks on the floor, according to a tweet from Blue Room Stream.

The representatives removed included Rep. Sosnowski, Rep. McCombie, Rep. Wilhour, Rep. Halbrook, Rep. Niemerg, Rep. Welter, Rep. D. Friess, Rep. Miller and Rep. Chesney.

The House voted 66-39 to uphold a House Rule, which requires House members to wear masks.

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It appeared that several other members followed suit and left the floor, according to Capitol Fax.

The members can still participate remotely.

State Reps. Adam Niemerg, Brad Halbrook, Dan Caulkins, Blaine Wilhour, and Chris Miller released the following statement:

"For the third day in a row, we refused to comply with the House mask mandate because of our commitment to highlight the unnecessary school mask mandate and because we are tired of rules and policies that don’t make any sense. This time the Democrat majority followed through with their threat to remove us from the House floor and we were forced to vote on bills remotely instead of in person on the House floor.

At one point House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch stated that there were more important things to do than spend time on the House floor debating masks. His statement illustrates how out of touch the Democrat majority is when it comes to the frustration of parents across the state of Illinois. These parents are tired of the cruelty brought on their children with these senseless mask mandates at schools. They are tired and frustrated and they want someone to listen to them. What can be more important than the concerns of parents about what is happening to their children?

Our message to Illinois parents is simple. We are listening to you. We stand with you, and we support you. The Democrats are feeling the heat because the public has had enough of the two years of the mandates and the disregard for their concerns. We must be resolved now more than ever to return Illinois to normalcy. We are going to keep fighting for your rights as parents to make healthcare decisions for your kids and we hope you will keep fighting too."