Mask Mandates

Floor Speech

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Mr. COTTON. There is a disturbing trend in the not-so-friendly skies these days--a big spike in confrontations, often violent, on American airplanes. It is all the more disturbing because it is totally unnecessary. In most cases, these disputes go back to one of the Biden administration's dumbest policies--the mask mandate at airports and on airplanes.

When the Wuhan coronavirus broke out in our country last year, confusion and uncertainty reigned, but within a couple of months, some commonsense standards had emerged: Protect the elderly and the frail. Outdoor activities are safer than indoor ones. Keep your distance. Wear a mask when you can't for prolonged periods inside. Be civil and kind to each other.

Thanks to Operation Warp Speed, these standards are largely a thing of the past. Americans are tired of it, and they want their freedoms back, and they are right. But too many Democratic politicians and know- it-all bureaucrats don't want to give up their newfound powers.

No single action captures this power grab by government busybodies better than the TSA's decision to extend its zero-tolerance mask mandates for planes, trains, and buses until September, through the summer travel season. This mandate applies to the vaccinated and the unvaccinated alike, as well as kids over the age of 2.

Passengers without a mask or accompanied by children without a mask can lose their seats and be banned from airlines and subject to a $1,500 fine. This draconian and punitive policy has no basis in science. After all, airports typically have larger spaces and higher ceilings than, say, a grocery store and pharmacy. Planes have some of the most advanced air filtration systems available in the market today.

But this stupid mandate does have real-world consequences. Just last month, a Colorado mother and her family were removed from their flight because the plane's captain didn't believe that her 3-year-old son with autism would keep his mask on. This mother, unfortunately, was not the first to be removed from a flight, and I am sure she won't be the last if this absurd mandate remains in place.

This policy discourages family travel after a year of separation and forces Americans with children, especially children with disabilities, to cancel travel or else live in constant fear that an untimely tantrum or a bad day could ruin their trip and cost them more than $1,000 in fines.

As the father of two young boys, I can only assume the morons who cooked up this rule don't have children, or perhaps they outsource their kids to nannies and au pairs during flights, just as they do during their dinner parties and fancy retreats. Young kids, especially when they are in a new location surrounded by strangers, tend to act out and misbehave, as any parent will tell you. That entirely predictable behavior shouldn't result in their whole family being kicked off planes, trains, and buses far from home or their destination.

I must also observe--although I know that facts have nothing to do with this mandate--that young kids are also the least likely to get the coronavirus and the least likely to spread it.

Now, I concede that it is not only young kids who sometimes cause problems on planes. There are too many instances of grownups refusing to wear masks or berating flight attendants merely trying to do their job. These unruly adults should know better, of course, but so should the politicians and the bureaucrats who imposed this idiotic mandate in the first place.

Millions of Americans are flying again, and to say simply that ``they should follow my rules'' is impractical and ignores all we know about human nature.

The mandate, therefore, hurts not only passengers but also flight attendants. In our line of work, we probably fly more than most Americans these days. Over the last couple of months, I have personally seen so many flight attendants set up for failure by the Biden administration. They usually don't want to boss around their passengers or kick them off an airplane and cause a scene that will go viral on social media, but they are also told they have to enforce this stupid mask mandate, and it is all for no good reason.

It would be one thing if there was scientific evidence that suggested that these masks in airports and on airplanes or buses or trains actually slowed the spread of the virus among the unvaccinated, but that is not the case. Even the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, can't defend these mandates on the merits. He doesn't even try. The only rationale he could give when recently asked about the mandate was, ``They're a matter of respect,'' to which I would respond, how about some respect for Americans and their common sense?

If you can't defend a policy on the merits, you shouldn't have the policy, and the Biden administration should therefore immediately rescind its mask mandates for airports and airplanes and buses and trains. Vaccinated Americans and their young kids should not be forced to wear face coverings on airplanes or anywhere else, for that matter. It is unnecessary, it is unscientific, and in the case of children, it is cruel.

I think I speak for millions of Americans when I say: Mask mandates have long since outlived their usefulness and their welcome. We have all but won the war against the Wuhan coronavirus. It is time for us to act like it, to reclaim victory and reclaim our freedom.
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Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, I again ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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