Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) scathingly shut down Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) after the Democrat said that toddlers should have been forced to wear masks during the Covid-19 pandemic.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Nadler claimed that children as young as two years old should have been mandated by the government to mask up, adding that parents who opposed the idea were engaging in "child abuse."
"When we have a pandemic, like [the] COVID-19 pandemic that we had, two-year-olds should have been required to wear masks. It would be child abuse for parents not to do that because there was no vaccination available for 2-year-olds," Nadler said.
However, Republicans such as Roy greatly disagreed, saying that requiring Americans— especially children— is an overreach of the federal government's power.
"That is what the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee just said here on the floor of the House of Representatives, that the power of the government, the full power of the federal government, should be a part of ensuring and forcing your children, your two-year-old child, to be masked," Roy hit back.
Nadler's comments come during a debate over an amendment on vaccine mandates in the REINS Act, which the Democrat still insists the vaccine should be forced onto people.
Roy expressed his concern that the Left has gotten too comfortable with the idea that they can enforce mandates on American rights against their liberties, which according to the Democratic Party, people should not be allowed to be a functioning member of society unless they comply with authoritarian rules.
Nadler pushed back against the Reins Act, saying it would make it more challenging to require Americans to get a vaccine in the case of another pandemic.
Nadler: "When we have a pandemic like covid, two-year-olds should have been required to wear masks. It would be child abuse for parents not to do that." pic.twitter.com/8dcF9MJhDC
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 14, 2023
However, the amendment passed, receiving 219 votes in favor of it, with the exclusion of five Republicans in Reps. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Don Bacon (R-NE), Zach Nunn (R-IA), and Mike Lawler (R-NY).