Vance sees legislative path for ban on federal mask mandates: ‘We’re going to keep working at this’

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) expressed confidence on Wednesday that he’ll be able to pass legislation banning federal mask mandates despite Democratic control of the Senate.

Vance, who has been sounding the alarm for weeks about an eventual return to pandemic protocols, was unsuccessful in trying to force floor consideration of his Freedom to Breathe Act after introducing it. The bill would bar the federal government from reimposing mask mandates for domestic air travel, public transportation, and schools.

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“We’re working on a number of different angles to actually try to get it passed, or some version of it passed,” Vance said at a press conference alongside some Senate GOP colleagues. “I was really disappointed that the UC was blocked.”

“If you remember, when the legislation was initially introduced, one of the responses that all of us heard from the Democrats was, ‘No one wants to bring back mask mandates,’” he continued. “Well, if no one wants to bring back mask mandates, why did you have Democrats on the floor of the Senate objecting when we tried to ban them? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“We’re going to keep working at this. I think we have a number of avenues where we can get this passed,” he said.

Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), and Mike Braun (R-IN) co-sponsored the legislation, which is unlikely to receive floor from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). At the Wednesday press conference, Schmitt pushed back on criticism that the senators should shelve this effort until the potential government shutdown is addressed.

“Of course that’s a big issue, but I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. I mean, there’s a lot of things to do,” the Missouri senator explained, adding that the “traumatic experiences” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic “is a lesson in something that we can’t let happen again, so I think this is proactive.”

Schmitt argued there is cause to believe the mandates will return, saying, “There are school districts that are already engaged now in mask mandates. At the federal level, we’ve got the airline issue, we’ve got the federal Head Start programs. So, I think it’s important for us to get out in front here.”

Vance and Schmitt, both freshmen, were joined at the press conference by two members of Senate GOP leadership: Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY). The men are two of the three considered most likely to succeed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) when he retires from his leadership post. The third is Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the former majority whip.

“It’s an example of when you give the Democrats an inch, they’ll take a mile,” Thune said. “This stuff is crazy. And I hope that we can get this issue addressed once and for all and do away with these onerous, egregious policies and mandates that make it so much more difficult for our kids and people generally in this country.”

“This protects our individual rights as citizens and it preserves state’s rights,” Barrasso, a former orthopedic surgeon, said. “The last thing we need is another one-size-fits-all approach from the federal government, Washington telling us what to do once again — it only makes common sense.”

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The legislative effort is, in part, in response to a recent push by a Maryland school district to reinstitute mask mandates. It also follows the White House saying President Joe Biden would wear a mask while indoors after first lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month. He was then spotted occasionally flouting his own rules.

The bill has far better prospects in the GOP-controlled House, though Republicans have had limited success in repealing some COVID-19 measures in the Senate, including the military’s vaccine mandate last year.