Op-Ed Contributed By The Office of Mike Rogers
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) joined Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) and Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Member Garret Graves (R-LA) and 126 Republican colleagues in demanding the Biden administration rescind its arbitrary extension of the federal transportation mask mandate.
In total, 129 House Republicans signed the letter. The Members sent their letter to the president after the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced it was extending the expiring mandate for aviation and public transportation passengers and workers through April 18, 2022.
Highlights from the letter:
All across America, masks are coming off as both Republican and Democratic led state governments are dropping mask mandates in the face of delayed, confused and contradictory CDC guidance.
The transportation mask mandate extension absurdly came on the same day that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that more than 98% of the U.S. population lives in areas where wearing masks indoors is no longer advised as a necessary preventative measure.
The airline industry, fighting to recover from the pandemic and high fuel prices, has taken extraordinary measures to keep passengers safe, including the use of effective onboard High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtration systems and strong disinfection practices and policies.
The Administration failed to do the necessary work to harmonize its policies between the CDC’s Feb. 25 announcement of its new Community Level framework and the TSA’s March 10 extension of the transportation mask mandate – applying one standard to most Americans and another to transportation users and workers.