The U.S. Senate passed a resolution Tuesday that would end the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mask mandate for air travel and public transportation.
The resolution, spearheaded by Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, picked up bipartisan support in a 57-40 vote. The vote comes after the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced Thursday that they would extend the current mask mandate for public transportation through April 18. Eight Democrats voted in favor of Paul’s resolution and only one Republican voted against it, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.
“Today, the Senate said enough is enough, and sent a message to unelected government bureaucrats to stop the anti-science, nanny state requirement of travel mask mandates,” Paul said in a statement after the vote.
“Since March 2020, unelected bureaucrats have incessantly declared that we should ‘follow the science.’ But the same bureaucrats continue to defy science by imposing an ineffective and restrictive mask mandate for individuals traveling on public transit and airplanes. As the entire world is learning to live with COVID, the federal government still uses fear mongering to stubbornly perpetuate its mandates, rather than giving clear-eyed, rational advice on how to best protect yourself from illness,” he continued.
“That is why, I forced this vote, and I applaud the Senate for rejecting this nonsense,” Paul added.
READ THE RESOLUTION HERE:
Sen. Paul Mask Mandate Resolution by Henry Rodgers on Scribd
An airline flight crew wearing a face mask as a preventative measure against COVID-19 coronavirus walks through the departure terminal of Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok on Dec. 18, 2020. (Photo by JACK TAYLOR/AFP via Getty Images)
Paul also joined with a group of Republicans in Congress in filing a lawsuit Monday against the CDC, calling on the agency to end the mask mandate for air travel. (RELATED: Congressional Republicans File Lawsuit Against CDC To End Mask Mandate For Air Travel)
In February, House Republicans introduced a House companion to Paul’s Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that disapproves of the CDC’s mask mandate for public transportation. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Reps Bishop, Mast Introduce Legislation To End CDC’s Public Transportation Mask Mandate)
House Republicans have said Americans are tired of being harassed on airplanes and public transportation for not wearing masks and argued the CDC’s mandate is not science-based.
The Daily Caller contacted the CDC about the vote to which they did not immediately respond.