The legislation was inside the $460 billion spending package that the president signed to avoid a partial government shutdown.
President Joe Biden signed a $460 billion package of spending bills over the weekend to avoid a partial government shutdown, which included Sen. J.D. Vance’s (R-Ohio) legislation banning federal mask mandates from the Department of Transportation.
The law, known as the “Freedom to Breathe Act,” prohibits the Transportation Department from using federal monies to enforce mask mandates on passenger airlines, busses, rail, and any other transportation program funded through fiscal year 2024.
Republican Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Ted Budd of North Carolina, and Eric Schmitt of Missouri co-sponsored the legislation.
In September, Mr. Vance asked the Senate for unanimous approval in an attempt to force the bill’s passage, but Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) objected, citing the bill was misleading. He argued that officials at the local level should have every healthcare option available to them.
Support From Air Marshal Association
“We tried mask mandates once in this country,” Mr. Vance said in a statement last year. “They failed to control the spread of respiratory viruses, violated basic bodily freedom, and set our fellow citizens against one another. This legislation will ensure that no federal bureaucracy, no commercial airline, and no public school can impose the misguided policies of the past. Democrats say they’re not going to bring back mask mandates—we’re going to hold them to their word.”
The Air Marshal Association also backed Mr. Vance’s bill, which it described as “common-sense legislation.”
“Federal air marshals were routinely diverted from their national security mission to monitor and respond to masking related incidents, or were asked by air crews to intervene with non-compliant passengers,” the letter continued.
Mr. Cassaretti also noted that he had testified during an open Congressional hearing about the “sharp increase in violence on aircraft,” adding that “air crews and aviation workers had suffered direct physical attacks because they were tasked with enforcing arbitrary masking requirements.”
The following month, Mr. Vance filed the legislation as an amendment to an appropriations bill which passed the Senate.
Local Mask Mandates
In January, officials in Monmouth County, New Jersey, reimposed an indoor mask mandate at the Sandy Hook unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area amid an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
“Masks are currently required in all federal buildings in Sandy Hook,” according to a statement on the park’s website. “Monmouth County is at HIGH Covid-19 community level, as identified by the CDC.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) consider readings above 20 per 100,000 as high. The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Monmouth County was 20.4 per 100,000, according to CDC data on Jan. 12.
California, New York, and Illinois were among a handful of states that also implemented mask mandates earlier this year.
Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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