Federal mask mandates are thankfully, for the most part, finally gone — even though Democrats are still scrambling to preserve the federal travel mandate, one of the last visible vestiges of their pandemic protocols.
Even while the mask mandate for planes, trains, and public transit remains suspended, there are a few other groups for which masks are currently required and, inexplicably, one of those groups are toddlers. You know, the young children who are among the least at-risk from COVID. As it turns out, there are still plenty of Democrats who think toddlers in Head Start programs as young as two years old should be forced to wear masks even when outside on the playground.
On Tuesday night, the United States Senate voted on a measure — known officially as "S.J.Res.39" — introduced by GOP Senator John Thune (SD). It reads:
That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Department of Health and Human Services relating to “Vaccine and Mask Requirements To Mitigate the Spread of COVID–19 in Head Start Programs” (86 Fed. Reg. 68052 (November 30, 2021)), and such rule shall have no force or effect.
And while the resolution passed with support from every Republican present and a handful of Democrats, there were still 41 Democrats who went on the record with their belief that toddlers in Head Start programs should continue to be forcibly masked.
JUST PASSED: My resolution to stop the Biden admin rule that forced children in head start facilities to wear masks – even on the playground. A bipartisan majority agrees this rule is a gross overreach of the federal government and must stop now. pic.twitter.com/zz8FQeMM45
— Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) May 3, 2022
The more-sane Democrats who sided with Thune's resolution were Senators Cortez Masto (NV), Kelly (AZ), Manchin (WV), Ossoff (GA), Rosen (NV), Sinema (AZ), and Tester (MT).
But here are the Senate Democrat caucus members who tried to keep masks on toddlers:
- Baldwin (WI)
- Blumenthal (CT)
- Booker (NJ)
- Brown (OH)
- Cantwell (WA)
- Cardin (MD)
- Carper (DE)
- Casey (PA)
- Coons (DE)
- Duckworth (IL)
- Durbin (IL)
- Feinstein (CA)
- Gillibrand (NY)
- Hassan (NH)
- Heinrich (NM)
- Hickenlooper (CO)
- Hirono (HI)
- Kaine (VA)
- King (ME)
- Klobuchar (MN)
- Leahy (VT)
- Lujan (NM)
- Markey (MA)
- Menendez (NJ)
- Merkley (OR)
- Murphy (CT)
- Murray (WA)
- Padilla (CA)
- Peters (MI)
- Reed (RI)
- Sanders (VT)
- Schatz (HI)
- Schumer (NY)
- Smith (MN)
- Stabenow (MI)
- Van Hollen (MD)
- Warner (VA)
- Warnock (GA)
- Warren (MA)
- Whitehouse (RI)
- Wyden (OR)
Of those who voted against lifting the Biden administration's toddler mask mandate, several will face voters in their state in November's midterms. Even as Democrat pollsters urge Biden and his party to move beyond COVID and try to focus on literally anything else, here are Dems yet again showing their true colors and continuing their attempts to wield their power to control the everyday lives of even the youngest Americans.