Iowa House Speaker refuses to enforce mask mandate -- but still forbids members from wearing jeans

The Republican Speaker of the Iowa State House will not make his members wear face masks during the novel coronavirus pandemic -- but just this week he barred a member from speaking on the floor because she wore jeans.

The Des Moines Register reports that Democratic Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell this week deliberately broke the House's dress code by wearing jeans into the chamber.

When she rose to speak during a debate on Tuesday, Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley quickly shut her down.

"You will not be recognized to speak for debate," said Grassley, who is the grandson of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). "You can continue to vote from the floor."

Wessel-Kroeschell told the Register that she broke the dress code to show the absurdity of refusing to require that members wear masks.

"Not wearing a mask can kill people, and we have had people here -- we have a member who was exposed to it and is now COVID positive at home," she said. "And there are five or six of their members who are never wearing masks. This is dangerous and they're putting all of us in danger. So if they can enforce a denim dress code they can also enforce a mask mandate."