Sen. Cynthia Lummis on Wednesday said it is time to end mandates for the use of face masks on airplanes and public transportation for Americans who have been vaccinated against coronavirus.
In announcing her support for the bill which would eliminate the mask mandate for vaccinated people in airports, commercial airplanes, buses, and rail systems, Lummis said the mandate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is no longer necessary and needs to rescinded immediately.
“Outside of the beltway, the country is going back to normal. Wyoming and most other states lifted their mask mandate months ago,” Lummis said.
“The only place most Americans are wearing masks now is in airports and on airplanes,” she said. “[Transportation] Secretary Buttigieg even said that the mandate is not actually about the science, but instead about ‘respect.’ If there’s no science backing it up, it’s time for the mandate to go.”
Other Republican senators from the more conservatives and moderate wings of the party also spoke in support of the bill stating that the mandate has outgrown its usefulness as more than 150 million Americans have been fully vaccinated.
“Americans should be able to travel to celebrate Independence Day with their friends and loved ones without having to follow an outdated and unnecessary mandate,” Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) said.
“I recently spoke with two flight attendants about the mask mandate for air travel,” said Senator Susan Collins (R-ME). “Given the horrendous and unthinkable violence that has occurred on flights, one of them was frightened by what would happen if she tried to enforce the mandate.”
