Democrats blocked a request by Republican Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio) for a bill to prohibit federal mask mandates.
Called the Freedom to Breathe Act, the bill would have stopped any federal official from implementing mask mandates through the end of next year.
The measure would also prevent schools, colleges, and public transit systems from refusing services to anyone refusing to wear a mask.
Vance’s proposal came as some institutions reimposed mask mandates.
“All of us have lived through the failed experiment of mandatory masking,” Mr. Vance said.
“Today, I want to ensure that we do not subject the American people to this tyranny again for the sake of nothing,” Mr. Vance added that seasonal upticks in endemic respiratory viruses like COVID-19 are normal and no cause for alarm.
“They shouldn’t cause panic from our leadership or our country, and they shouldn’t cause us to reimpose a policy that has failed time and time again,” he added.
Calling mandatory masking a “failure” in the pandemic, Vance called for expedited consideration and unanimous passage of his bill under a process known as unanimous consent.
Vance’s proposal for his bill failed after Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) objected, blocking the measure.
Markey claimed the bill would hamper pandemic response COVID restriction efforts.
“It makes no sense to put limits on how communities and individuals can protect themselves. This bill is a red herring. It is a false debate,” Markey continued.
“If, in the opinion of public health officials, strategies can be adopted using masks that reduce the likelihood that more will die, we should give them the freedom to make those decisions,” Mr. Markey added.
“Any floor objection to Senator Vance’s unanimous consent request would amount to a clear admission that Democrats intend to reimpose mask mandates in the near term,” his office said.
Vance said in a statement that blocking the bill shows Democrats want a mask mandate comeback.
“Democrats have sent a clear signal to the nation that they support the return of mask mandates,” Mr. Vance said.
The Cochrane Study released in January found that masks do almost nothing to prevent the spread of respiratory diseases.
As the Daily Fetched reported in August, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) found “no evidence” that proves medical-grade face masks protected vulnerable people from COVID-19, according to a new study.
Earlier this month, Former President Donald Trump responded to reimpose mask mandates and lockdowns, declaring, “We will not comply.”
Trump said:
“The left-wing lunatics are trying very hard to bring back COVID lockdowns and mandates with all of their sudden fear-mongering about the new variants that are coming.
Gee whiz, you know what else is coming? An election. They want to restart the COVID hysteria so they can justify more lockdowns, more censorship, more illegal dropboxes, more mail-in ballots, and trillions of dollars in payoffs to their political allies heading into the 2024 election. Does that sound familiar?
These are bad people. These are sick people we’re dealing with. But to every COVID tyrant who wants to take away our freedom, hear these words: WE WILL NOT COMPLY, so don’t even think about it.
We will not shut down our schools. We will not accept your lockdowns. We will not abide by your mask mandates, and we will not tolerate your vaccine mandates.
They rigged the 2020 election, and now they’re trying to do the same thing all over again. By rigging the most important election in the history of our country, the 2024 election, even if it means trying to bring back COVID. But they will fail because we will not let it happen.
When I’m back in the White House, I will use every available authority to cut federal funding to any school, college, airline, or public transportation system that imposes a mask mandate or a vaccine mandate.”
READ: DC Elementary School Tells Parents to Begin MASKING UP Their Children
I all ready approved this bill. I will not comply!