Presented by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

Good Thursday morning. I'm Jake Sherman and welcome to your political playbook audio briefing.

And I'm Anna Palmer. People in the capital are sick and tired, quite literally.

Sick. The United States Congress, the legislature for the most powerful country on planet Earth,

has been allowing lawmakers to come into the capital without being tested for the deadly coronavirus.

Quarky Republican Louis Gohmert of Texas walked in infected with the coronavirus,

got in close proximity to a powerful member of the president's cabinet,

and only found out he was positive

by happenstance. Tired. People who work in the building are furious with an institution that does

not have uniform rules, does not mandate testing, does not have masking requirements, and is run

with minimal oversight. People feel unsafe and uncomfortable at work on Wednesday evening after Gohmert was found to have COVID after romping around the Capitol.

Nancy Pelosi announced lawmakers must wear masks in the house portion of the Capitol complex, office buildings included.

We granted AIDS, lawmakers, and capital workers anonymity to discuss the climate of working in a building with few rules and a gaggle of lawmakers

that doubt scientists and hold themselves out as experts on everything from disease hygiene to

pharmacology. The people who emailed us are not the kinds of people who typically reach out to

reporters. One House Democratic lawmakers said people are really, really mad. Ripshit might be a better word.

One senior aide who came into contact with Gomer was told by the attending physician,

they cannot get tested unless they are symptomatic.

And a scheduler for a Republican member said that their whole office is fully staffed,

and while mask use isn't banned, it's also not encouraged and has been

derided on several occasions by the chief of staff and member. There are more anecdotes and

stories in the print edition of Playbook this morning. The country has reached another stark

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