Rubio skipping SOTU over COVID-19 testing mandate: 'I don't have time'

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) will skip President Biden's State of the Union address Tuesday because of the COVID-19 testing requirement for attendees.

"I don't have time to go take a COVID test today," Rubio said, according to a tweet from HuffPost reporter Igor Bobic. "I only take a test if I'm sick."

Rubio's office confirmed his plans to The Hill.

Rubio complained about the requirements for the State of the Union during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday.

"For the first time in American history you now have people having to produce paper to go in somewhere, to sit somewhere, to go to the State of the Union," Rubio said.

"You've got to show them I'm vaccinated, I took a test yesterday, they took my temperature, you know, all this stuff," he added. "This is, what's happening now in America, is what happens after 20 years of infusing this Marxist thought process into every aspect of our lives and now we've come face-to-face with it."

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla) also said he might not attend the State of the Union in a radio interview Monday.

"Nothing good is going to happen," Scott said of the address to Panama City's News Talk 101, according to Florida Politics.

"I don't want to feel so obligated to stand up and say, 'That's a lie.' Because that's what you feel like," said Scott. "What you feel like when you're listening ... is like 'that's not true' and 'that's not true' and 'that's not true.' And so, why do it?"

The House lifted its mask mandate ahead of Biden's address Tuesday, making mask wearing optional throughout the Capitol complex.

The White House also announced Monday it is ending a mask requirement for employees who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.