By Hannah Claire BrimelowSenator Rand Paul plans to introduce legislation that would repeal the airplane mask mandate when the Senate reconvenes.
“Time to stop this farce and let people travel in peace!” the Republican senator from Kentucky tweeted yesterday.
Nearly six months ago, President Biden signed an executive order mandating “people wear face masks in airports and on planes, as well as on ships, buses and other forms of public transportation, on his first full day in office, Jan. 21,” reports The Washington Times.
The Transport and Security Administration (TSA) extended the requirement through September 13. Originally, it was set to expire on May 11.
Paul, who graduated from Duke Medical School in 1988, has encouraged individual responsibility throughout the pandemic.
"In a free country, you would think people would honor the idea that each individual would get to make the medical decision, that it wouldn't be a big brother coming to tell me what I have to do," Paul said in May 2021 regarding the possibility of mandated vaccinations.
He clashed with Dr. Anthony Fauci in March “over whether people should wear masks if they have recovered from coronavirus or been vaccinated against it,” Breitbart reported. “Paul has also expressed his concerns over Fauci’s potential involvement with gain of function research in the Wuhan lab.”
In recent weeks, vaccine rates have steadily declined. The White House announced a doo-to-door vaccination push earlier this week which was sharply denounced Republican figures online.
White House Press Secretary Jen walked back the statement the following day and clarified no federal agents would show up at private citizens’ homes and mandate they be vaccinated.
The debate on ending mask mandates had become chronic in Congress.
From The Washington Examiner: “Last month, during a markup of rail and safety legislation in the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, a measure introduced by Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, would have ended the mandate. But the provision, which committee members voted on along party lines, failed.”
Rand Paul was the first senator to be diagnose with COVID-19, contracting the virus in March of 2020.
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