Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene expressed gratitude to more than a dozen fellow GOP lawmakers who joined her bid to block mask mandates amid an alleged surge in COVID-19 cases.
On X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, Greene said she had introduced the House companion bill to a proposal by Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance to ban mask mandates. Vance’s bill was entitled the “Freedom to Breathe Act.”
Within a few hours, at least 13 other Republicans had signed on to Greene’s version. Among them was Florida Rep. Bill Posey of Rockledge.
“We cannot allow our country to be sucked back into the COVID hysteria that ushered in unscientific and nonsensical health mandates like blanket masking policies,” Greene said on X.
According to The Washington Examiner, which reported on Greene’s bill on Saturday, the measure would ban federal officials from imposing orders that would require mask-wearing on airplanes, public transit, or in educational settings.
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Greene’s bill also would extend to President Joe Biden and would prevent officials from denying services to travelers or students if they refuse to mask up.
“Dr. [Anthony] Fauci privately recommended not wearing a mask to his close friends, admitting they weren’t effective, yet he provided nationwide public health guidance stating Americans be required to mask in nearly all social settings, including while on public transit and in schools,” Greene said in a statement to the Examiner.
“Even Joe Biden himself declared the pandemic is over. We cannot allow our country to be sucked back into the COVID hysteria that ushered in unscientific and nonsensical health mandates like blanket masking policies.”
Biden himself last week seemed to shun the idea of wearing a mask even after his press secretary said he would wear one when around others after first last Jill Biden tested positive for the virus.
“I’ve been tested again today. I’m clear across the board. But they keep telling me, because this has to be 10 days or something, I’ve got to keep wearing it. But don’t tell them I didn’t have it on when I just walked in,” Biden told reporters during an event on Wednesday as he removed his mask.
Biden also removed his mask on Tuesday in presenting the Congressional Medal of Honor to former Capt. Larry Taylor, a Vietnam war Army helicopter pilot, even as White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said that day Biden would mask up in close proximity to others.
As Tampa Free Press reported on Thursday, Vance’s bill stalled in the Senate on Thursday after left-wing Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts killed Vance’s bid to have the bill pass with unanimous consent.
“We must protect the freedom for communities to have every public health tool available, if it’s needed in the opinion of the public health officials in that community, in that state. They should be the ones making the decision at the local level, looking at the dangers to their population,” Markey said in explaining why he stopped the bill.
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