Senator J.D. Vance (R., Ohio) introduced legislation on Tuesday that would ban the federal government from mandating face masks nationally again.
The Freedom to Breathe Act would prohibit President Joe Biden and federal agencies from implementing face mask requirements for public transit passengers or students in schools. If passed and signed into law, the bill would be effective until December 31, 2024.
“We tried mask mandates once in this country. They failed to control the spread of respiratory viruses, violated basic bodily freedom, and set our fellow citizens against one another,” Vance told Fox News, which first reported the bill. “This legislation will ensure that no federal bureaucracy, no commercial airline, and no public school can impose the misguided policies of the past.”
The legislation would prevent federal officials, including Biden, from instituting face masks on any U.S. commercial airlines, public transit systems, or schools, according to the document made available in Vance’s press release.
It would also block the three aforementioned institutions from refusing service to anyone who refuses to wear a mask and prevent the Department of Health and Human Services from implementing mask requirements in response to a public health emergency. Other provisions include withholding federal spending on such restrictions and requiring all federal agencies to abide by the law.
“Democrats say they’re not going to bring back mask mandates – we’re going to hold them to their word,” the Republican senator said.
The newly introduced bill comes as a new coronavirus variant called EG.5 is sparking concern among school boards. As students return to the classroom, an uptick in Covid cases has prompted some schools to cancel classes or impose safety measures including mask-wearing, according to Axios.
This week, one Maryland elementary school reinstated mask mandates after at least three people tested positive for Covid-19. In an email sent to parents, the Rosemary Hills Elementary School principal wrote that “students and staff in identified classes or activities will be required to mask while in school for the next 10 days, except while eating or drinking.”
This measure goes against the county school district’s voluntary mask policy, which is only overridden by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines. The principal’s email doesn’t indicate whether students can opt out of the mask mandate.
In response to the Covid surge, some companies and health-care facilities in New York and California have returned to requiring masks. In August, Morris Brown College in Georgia reinstated a two-week mask policy. Additionally, the Hollywood studio Lionsgate implemented a short-lived mask mandate before lifting it last month.
On Saturday, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Americans to listen to the CDC’s mask recommendations as Covid cases rise, despite saying in 2020 that masks don’t provide the “perfect protection” people think they do.