Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) led a group of Republican senators in demanding that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention lift the mask mandate for fully vaccinated individuals on public transportation.
Cruz introduced a resolution, along with GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Roger Wicker (Miss.), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.) and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), that said the CDC’s guidelines, which states that fully vaccinated individuals do not need to wear face coverings in most settings, should apply to travelers using public transportation.
The senators said in the resolution Friday:
Science shows that individuals fully vaccinated against COVID–19 are protected against asymptomatic infection, and thus very unlikely to spread the disease.
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to impose mask mandates on public transportation.
The federal mask mandate was set to expire May 11 until the Transportation Security Administration extended it to Sept. 13.
Cruz said of the resolution in a press release:
Americans should be able to travel to celebrate Independence Day with their friends and loved ones without having to follow an outdated and unnecessary mandate.
The resolution follows Democrats blocking a bill from Senate Republicans that would have reversed Biden’s requirement to wear a face mask on public transportation.
GOP Sens. Rick Scott (Fla.) and Mike Lee (Utah) introduced the bill and highlighted the vaccination rates across the country, arguing that a mask mandate is no longer needed.
However, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said during the blockage of the bill:
This virus is still spreading, it is still mutating, it is still costing lives, and it is still leaving survivors with long-haul symptoms.