Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) during a committee hearing Wednesday slammed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Dr. Anthony Fauci for politicizing mask mandates during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
During the hearing, he explained that member of Congress frequently uses the airline to travel, and everyone is getting used to the “announcement that begins at the beginning of every flight, where they say ‘federal law requires that you wear a mask.'”
The Texan said “the last time I checked under a constitutional system of federal law requires it, that it is appropriate for the United States Congress to make that determination,” which he said the only way “something becomes federal law” is when “Congress passes a law, and it’s signed by the President.”
He expressed that even though Congress has the authority, the “decisions should be driven by the science,” as the nation is “coming through a pandemic.”
Cruz said it is “deeply dismaying seeing how the CDC has in the course of this pandemic allowed itself at times to become politicized.” Especially pointing out the recently released emails from Fauci are “deeply troubling” to the “extent to which they engaged in politics rather than science,” he also wanted to note, “that CDC has been quite clear that for people who are vaccinated, masks are not needed.”
He continued:
It’s worth noting, we are sitting here in a congressional hearing. To the best of my knowledge, every senator in this room has been vaccinated. And we’re sitting as close… Sen. [Deb] Fischer and I are sitting as close as we would be sitting if we were sitting on an airplane. We’re not wearing a mask and indeed not a single senator on, in this hearing room is wearing a mask, not a single Democrat, not a single Republican is wearing a mask.
Because shock of all shocks science actually means something and vaccines work. This mandate right now is hurting the aviation industry. Because it is depressing demand for commercial aviation this, this committee has taken extraordinary steps to provide support for our aviation industry.
…
This is performative theater. This is not science. This is not keeping anyone safe and if our objective is to encourage people to be vaccinated, and I think everyone on this committee has encouraged people to be vaccinated, then one way to encourage people to be vaccinated is for there actually to be a difference in what you can do after you’ve been vaccinated.
“I can tell you two weeks ago. I flew to Israel. It’s an 11-hour flight to Israel,” Cruz added. “We wore masks the entire time. You literally had flight attendants who would wake you up if you were sleeping” to make sure the mask was fully on.
Cruz said repealing the efforts that force Americans to wear masks and “allowing people who have been vaccinated to choose not to wear a mask on an airplane would increase demand increased travel would tie the policy to the science and I think it is a common-sense step to take.”
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