U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance’s (R-Ohio) measure to ban the Department of Transportation from using federal funds to enforce mask mandates has passed both houses of Congress and now heads to the desk of President Joe Biden (D).
“The era of public health panic is over. Tonight, my amendment to prohibit COVID-19 mask mandates by the Department of Transportation — including the FAA — passed the Senate,” said Vance. “Joe Biden will soon be forced to sign this into law.”
“This is a massive victory for common sense. Mask mandates were an outrageous overstep by the public health establishment,” Vance said. “We cannot allow this mistake to be repeated.”
Vance’s ban prevents the enforcement of federal mask mandates on passenger airlines, commuter rail, rapid transit buses, and any other transportation program funded through Fiscal Year 2024.
The measure, called “The Freedom to Breathe Act,” was contained in an amendment to the Senate Appropriations Bill.
John Casaretti, president of the Air Marshal Association, backed the ban, saying…
Air crews and transportation workers should never be compelled to enforce arbitrary policies on behalf of the government.
Senator Vance introduced the Freedom to Breathe Act in September 2023, his office noted in a statement, in order to prevent the reimposition of federal mask mandates in the United States.
“We tried mask mandates once in this country. They failed to control the spread of respiratory viruses, violated basic bodily freedom, and set our fellow citizens against one another,” the Ohio U.S. senator said at the time. “This legislation will ensure that no federal bureaucracy, no commercial airline, and no public school can impose the misguided policies of the past. Democrats say they’re not going to bring back mask mandates – we’re going to hold them to their word.”
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Written by staff reporters at American Greatness.
