Pramila Jayapal uses Jan. 6 to claim that members of Congress who violate mask requirements are ‘undermining democracy’

Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA.) said unmasked members of congress are "undermining our democracy" while discussing President Biden's Build Back Better Act on CNN last week.

On members of Congress not wearing masks during session, which is mandated on the grounds of the US Capitol, Jayapal explained that "...this is where the lack of civility has come to in the United States Congress."

"I think it is a massive problem," Jayapal said. "It undermines our ability to get work done and it is intolerable in a workplace where we are going to work to do the work of the American people."

The Progressive congresswoman slammed legislators that do not adhere to masking requirements and provided an example stating, "You get on an elevator and people refuse to wear a mask and your choices are to either get off the elevator or to get on the elevator and to tell them to wear a mask."

During the discussion, Jayapal went on to compare congressmembers that violate mask policies to January 6 "insurrectionists" and said that those who do not wear masks are "undermining our democracy."

"I really believe that our colleagues who refuse to even adhere to the basic norms of civility are undermining our democracy and of course we're seeing it in all kinds of even more serious ways like the January 6 insurrection," the Washington state Congresswoman said. "It's part of the attempt to take down a legitimate democracy from functioning in the way it should function."

The Progressive Congresswoman has been an instrumental supporter of Biden's Build Back Better Act and has even slammed the President for not overriding opposition and signing the act into legislation through executive order.

When the bill was close to passing through the Senate, Senators Joe Manchin and Sinema, both Democrats, sided with the Republicans and voted against Biden's $3.5 trillion price tag.