Report: Senate Dems Using Unofficial 'Don't Test, Don't Tell' COVID-19 Rule to Ram Through Inflation Reduction Act

By Cameron Arcand | 12:45 PM on August 05, 2022

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Democratic senators worried they might have COVID-19 are quietly waiting until after the Inflation Reduction Act gets passed, which is expected over the weekend, in order to test.

The unofficial rule of “Don’t test, don’t tell” is the Democrats’ plan to assure that nobody has to go into isolation with the virus before they have to vote on the pricey legislation. A senior aide told Puck News that “they’re not going to delay the vote” and has strongly suggested that there will be “less testing” and that Democrats will “just wear masks and get it done.”

Senate Democrats adopt unofficial “Don’t Test, Don’t Tell” protocol as Inflation Reduction Act nears finish line https://t.co/jzvgg2S36O pic.twitter.com/UGFFEVp4bG

— Katherine Doyle (@katiadoyl) August 5, 2022

In addition, the outlet noted that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that they’re “not talking about a plan B” and is saying that they’ll all “stay healthy.”

So if you’re sick, suck it up, buttercup.

That’s the Democratic standard when they want to get their unpopular bills passed, especially because they’re betting on only 50 senators and Vice President Kamala Harris as their tie-breaking vote. They managed to get Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) on board only on Thursday, as RedState reported, which shows that the bill left some in their own party hesitant for a while.

While it’s reasonable to assume this is not the mentality of all Democrats in Congress, it is telling that leadership is so desperate to ram this through that they would put their member’s health at risk instead of working with Republicans. Many senators are seniors, who are known to have a greater risk of having serious issues with the virus, and it’s been widely understood that things should return to normal with some additional awareness from those who are older and have underlying health conditions. In fact, Democrats were so hardline about COVID-19 that they wanted to continue to put society on hold, yet now pretty much anything goes in order to get their way it seems.

Their hypocrisy is not new, but it’s usually less obvious. Now, Schumer is on record admitting that politics is more important in his eyes than the health of his colleagues.