FLASHBACK: Nancy Pelosi said the federal government cannot require vaccination, cited privacy concerns

While the Democrats are pushing for mandatory vaccinations and increased restrictions on unvaccinated Americans, Nancy Pelosi had previously said that the federal government could not mandate the vaccine, citing privacy concerns.

"We cannot require someone to be vaccinated. That's just not what we can do," Pelosi said of implementing a mandate for lawmakers to get vaccinated.

At the time, while about 75 percent of members had been vaccinated, Pelosi said she cannot force the 25 percent who have not opted to get the vaccine to do so.

She then cited privacy concerns, the same concerns that some of her Democratic colleagues are now dismissing. "It is a matter of privacy to know who is or who isn't," said Pelosi during a press conference in late April.

She added: "I can't go to the Capitol physician and say, give me the names of people who aren't vaccinated so I can go encourage them or make it known to others to encourage them to be vaccinated."

Pelosi has been in hot water this week after she reimposed the mask mandate on the house side of the capitol. Capitol police were also instructed to arrest house staff who do not wear masks.

The mask rules on the senate side remain unchanged. In a Twitter video Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene highlighted the line between the free senate side and Pelosi's mask-mandatory territory.