As COVID heats up in the news, Republicans are looking to do what they can to stop the federal government from re-imposing mandates, including when it comes to masking. On Thursday, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) requested unanimous consent for his bill, the Freedom to Breathe Act, which would "prohibit any federal official, including the President, from issuing mask mandates applying to domestic air travel, public transit systems, or primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools" and apply through the end of 2024. It was blocked, however, by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).
During his remarks, Markey framed the issue as one about state and local governments being able to decide "what's best for their communities," going on to use that against Republicans. "This vision would violate a long-held belief in the Republican Party that states and localities should not be told what to do by a federal government removed from the realities that they're seeing on the ground in their neighborhoods," he claimed. He brought this up yet again when praising healthcare workers as well.
Such a point leaves out the concept of freedom, though, to not be subjected to having to wear masks, and how that sense of freedom should spply to people throughout the nation.
Markey also provided a particularly rosy view of experts during the pandemic. "It would silence and hamstring public health experts who have guided our nation out of the darkest day of a pandemic that has killed 1,139,000 people in our country in three years," Markey shared.
And, he would go on to fearmonger that the bill "is little more than an attempt by Republicans to dismantle a public health infrastructure that had to be built in order to deal with this greatest of pandemics since 1918."
In responding to Markey's claims when he was done speaking, Vance offered that over 1 million people died "in spite of some of the most aggressive masking policies in the world," adding "if mandatory masking were going to save our citizens, it would have already done so."
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Markey also went for narratives we have heard before when he comes to urging people to mask up, framing it as how "health care providers, health centers, public health departments, transportation workers, and school districts are once again preparing to protect students, and seniors, and disabled, and immunocompromised people all across our country."
He also would later declare that "we have to provide the options to provide for our healthcare heroes to save lives," claiming Republicans "will make us less safe because they will be tying the hands of healthcare professionals in order to implement policies that protect" against more people dying.
Markey also put that onus on all Americans, as he said "millions of Americans will be doing what we can to protect ourselves and our loved ones and our communities must be able to take steps to save lives and keep people from getting sick or getting sicker, including the tools of vaccines and masks."
The senator even brought up unrelated points about healthcare, as he claimed that Republicans have an "antipathy to making healthcare acceptable and affordable to millions of Americans."
Despite his remarks suggesting that mandates could very well be returning, Markey claimed that "this bill is a red herring" and "a false bait," as well as "a distraction, misleading and meant to deflect from what the GOP really stands for right now, gimmicks over people."
While Markey did eventually address freedom, it served to make his remarks more hypocritical. "You argue that this bill is about freedom," he claimed, "but it's not. Freedom is parents and students knowing their school can take every step possible to keep them from getting sick, or taking home an illness that could hurt their siblings, their parents, or their grandparents."
Markey ironically made no mention of the lengths that parents and local leaders had to go through to fight against mask mandates, including in Virginia, as they battled defiant school boards and school districts, though they were ultimately successful with legislation signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) and in the courts.
He then included similar excuses as to how being able to impose mask mandates constituted "freedom" in the workplace and with public transportation.
During his time responding, Vance too brought up freedom, speaking to how students should not be thrown out of classrooms and passengers should not be thrown off of airplanes if they don't mask up. "Freedom," Vance pointed out, "is fundamentally about respecting that you might have a different view than I do, respecting that, accepting it, and not using government mandates to force our fellow citizens to do exactly what we want them to do, but to let us all figure this out together."
While Markey stressed how "we must protect 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," concerns still abound.
How far will the federal government go, especially and including under a Democratic president who said he'd be willing to "shut it down" with regards to the economy and the country if that's what the experts he believed said to do? This is especially relevant as the 2024 presidential election approaches. During the Wednesday edition of "The Verdict," a podcast he co-hosts with Ben Ferguson, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) warned about "the election variant" of COVID, also pointing to the concern of elected officials listening to the scientists that they agree with.
Ted Cruz Has a Warning About the 'Election Variant'
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 7, 2023
https://t.co/81ARzWCVQA
Perhaps Vance's strongest comments in response came at the end, as he was responding to "some pretty alarming rhetoric" from Markey, during which he stressed that respiratory illnesses always come in the fall, acknowledging they may be worse this year. Children, and Vance has three of them under 7-years-old, he reminded, "need us to not be chicken little about every single respiratory pandemic and problem that confronts this country."
"The way to respond to" these illnesses we have always had, Vance argued "is with calmness, resolve, and strategic thinking, not by pretending the world is ending because what has always happened is going to happen once again."
"We cannot repeat the anxiety, the stress, and the non-stop panic of the last couple of years. That's what this legislation is about, end the mandates, end the panic, and let's get back to some common sense."
FULL EXCHANGE between Senators @JDVance1 and @EdMarkey after the Democrat Senator rises to BLOCK Vance's "Freedom to Breathe Act," which would ban federal mask mandates. pic.twitter.com/GFwSMgnKcq
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 7, 2023
The virtue signaling was not only strong during Markey's remarks, but in how Democrats have been behaving in recent days as of late. A staffer in clear sight behind Markey is seen wearing a mask as he gave his remarks.
As our friends at Twitchy highlighted in covering the back-and-forth between Vance and Markey, the Democratic senator has a sign outside of his office noting that masks are required. Cruz had also mentioned during that Wednesday podcast that he had seen a Democratic senator and his staffer--whom he did not name--wearing N95 masks in the hallway. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has been recently photographed wearing one.
Here's the video of Markey earlier today blocking @JDVance1's unanimous consent on the "Freedom to Breathe" Act. Reminder that Markey also once tried to pass a national mask mandate bill with $5B to enforce it.https://t.co/p9NQFYG7IJ
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 7, 2023
Worse though, is perhaps the hypocrisy. As First Lady Jill Biden had tested positive for COVID earlier this week, President Joe Biden was supposed to be masking, and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said he would do so, in accordance with CDC guidelines. Not only did Biden not have his mask on for certain portions of events he was at, he joked about not having his mask on.
Perhaps the most obvious response though to the panicked Democrats, is that, as Vance reminded, people are still free to wear masks if they wish to. The bill is about protecting the freedom of others not to.
Last year, Biden shamed Americans for not wearing masks — calling it "a patriotic duty," even for the vaccinated.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 6, 2023
Today, Biden joked, "Don't tell them I didn't have [a mask] on when I walked in!"
What changed? pic.twitter.com/NbmcsJ7855
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