A group of Republican senators led by Roger Wicker of Mississippi are calling on the Biden administration to end the mask mandates on public transportation by the previous Friday deadline before it was extended until April 18.
Wicker, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, increased his calls for President Joe Biden to end the federal mask requirements for airline passengers, with the support of other Senate Republicans at a press conference Tuesday.
BIDEN TRIGGERS GOP BACKLASH WITH FEDERAL MASK MANDATE EXTENSION
“The current mandate was set to expire on March 18 … Unfortunately, for whatever reason, and it certainly was not a scientific reason, the Biden administration chose not to listen to the science and decided to extend the mask mandate for another month to April 18,” Wicker said. “And frankly, the constituent parties who have to deal with this have not asked for an extension to this mandate.”
“If someone wants to wear a mask on a five-hour flight from one American city to another, there is no reason why they can’t do that,” he continued. “But the testimony we’ve had in the Commerce Committee, from the airline industry, and from the scientists is that airline air is the safest air that Americans breathe indoors, anywhere. It’s safer than any other air, and there’s no reason why this mandate should extend over into April.”
Wicker and his colleagues wrote a letter last week to the president following his State of the Union address, asking Biden to make good on his urges to return to normal after two years of pandemic restrictions. He continued his request on lines of conforming to common sense during the briefing.
“When the rules of government do not comply with common sense, it offends free Americans to have to abide by some silly rule, and you can expect the objections that we’re hearing from the public,” he concluded.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas blasted the notion that the coronavirus can’t spread when consuming airplane snacks such as soft drinks and peanuts, which airlines allow passengers to remove their masks to eat.
“We’re told that one simple mask magically prevents COVID, unless, of course, you have a Diet Coke in your hand, in which case on a plane with a Diet Coke, you don’t need the mask anymore because Diet Coke apparently is some sort of cure for COVID,” Cruz said. “I don’t understand the asinine reasoning.”
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Cruz said that people everywhere should be subject to the same masking rules as Congress at the State of the Union.
“Just two weeks ago, we saw 535 members of Congress sitting on the floor of the House, and I don’t think there were five masks among them,” he said.
Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma said he would be voting for a Congressional Review Act proposal later this week that would give Congress power to overturn the masking rules.
