During a town hall on CNN on Thursday, 2020 Democratic presidential nominee former Vice President Joe Biden stated that he would have the authority as president to have a mask mandate on federal property and land and he will institute one, which could come with a fine for noncompliance. Biden also stated that he would prefer to see state governors have mask mandates, and would encourage them to have state mask mandates, but he can’t do one nationally.
Biden said, “I cannot mandate people wearing masks. … I would call every governor in the country into the White House, say, you should be putting mandates out. And if they don’t, I’d call the mayors in their towns, in their cities and say, put out mandates.”
Biden later added, “I would like to see the governors enforce mask wearing, period. I can do that on federal property. As president, I will do that. On federal land, I’d have the authority. If you’re on federal land, you must wear a mask, in a federal building, you must wear a mask. And we could have a fine for them not doing it. Look, this is about saving people’s lives. There’s no question that it saves people’s lives.”
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