Yahoo Movies Marjorie Taylor Greene Fined Nearly $50K for Violating Mask Rules: 'I Will Continue My Stand'
Dustin Chambers/Getty Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she will "continue [her] stand" against mask mandates meant to stop the spread of COVID-19, despite racking up $48,000 in fines for not wearing a mask on the House floor.
Greene, 47, has been fined for violating the House of Representative's mask policy 20 times, according to a letter from the House Sergeant at Arms sent to her office Oct. 28.
As the letter — which was shared with PEOPLE by Greene's office — outlines, the freshman Republican lawmaker's first recorded offense came in May, which led to an initial warning followed by her first fine on May 19 with many more following.
"You have been observed not wearing a mask on July 29, August 2, September 20, 21, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, and October 1, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, and 27, and have been asked by a member of my staff to wear a mask while in the Hall of the House of Representatives on each occasion unless recognized to speak by the chair," the letter reads.
Greene "was first warned about non-compliance with the mask rule on May 18, then observed not wearing a mask on May 19, her first official violation," according to the letter.
The mandate was enacted as a pandemic precaution; infections have spread through Congress as they have the rest of the country (and some conservative lawmakers have said they won't get vaccinated, saying they previously recovered from the virus.)
Earlier this year, a Texas representative died of complications from COVID-19.
According to House rules, Greene was fined $500 for her first offense after her warning and $2,500 for each subsequent offense.
CNN reports that the fines come out of her salary.
While Greene has worn masks in the past — often opting for coverings emblazoned with words like "Trump won" and "Censored" — she has more recently been photographed without one. And she's likely to continue that trend.
In a statement sent to PEOPLE by her office, Greene accused Democrats of being "tyrannical dictators with mandates and lock downs."
She continued in the statement: "Now, the American people have had enough and are standing up against these outrageous and unconstitutional policies. I will continue my stand on the House floor against authoritarian Democrat mandates, because I don't want the American people to stand alone."
RELATED: Top Republicans Denounce Marjorie Taylor Greene's 'Reprehensible' Holocaust-Vaccine Comparison
JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
Greene, a provocative and often controversial politician, has become more and more opposed to the House requirement that all members wear a mask inside Congress.
In May, she made the widely rebuked comments on a conservative podcast where she claimed the mask requirement was similar to "a time and history where people were told to wear a gold star," according to the Associated Press.
Greene added then that people were "put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany" and that "this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about."
Following a chorus of criticism — from members of both parties — Greene staged a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol in June, saying she had visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum earlier in the day, and she apologized for her previous comments.
"I'm truly sorry for offending people with remarks about the Holocaust," Greene said. "There's no comparison and there never ever will be."
Her anti-mask comments echoed similar comments on her social media accounts, which also included comparing a grocery store's health and safety requirements to the Holocaust.
"Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi's forced Jewish people to wear a gold star," Greene — who has not publicly said whether or not she has been vaccinated — tweeted, comparing the logo to the identifying stars Jews were forced to wear.
"Vaccine passports & mask mandates create discrimination against unvaxxed people who trust their immune systems," she wrote.
C.B. Schmelter/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
Greene has been a lightning rod since before entering Congress in January, in part because of her past positive comments about the QAnon conspiracy theory (her representatives now say she doesn't believe in it) and her fierce support of former President Donald Trump.
Prior to her taking office, some fellow GOP members in the House of Representatives told PEOPLE they were wary of working with Greene. One former Republican warned: "If you stick your toe into crazy, it could infect the whole body."
While Greene has sponsored a mix of GOP-friendly bills so far in the House, including protections for gun possession and a call to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci (which went nowhere with the Democratic majority) she has also made provocation a central part of her political brand.
She's gotten into confrontations with fellow lawmakers and was booted from House committees due to the activity on her social media, including a "liked" Facebook comment that called for "a bullet to the head" of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Elsewhere online, Greene has mused about whether a California wildfire was started by a space laser and made various derogatory comments about Muslims and Black and Hispanic people.
