Capito: Biden's overreaching child mask mandate must end
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Sep. 15—U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., wants to unmask children enrolled in the federal Head Start program.
The West Virginia lawmaker joined a coalition of Republicans Wednesday in demanding that the Biden Administration rescind its "one-size-fits-all" mask mandate on Head Start programs. According to Capito, children two years of age and older in Head Start programs are still being required by Biden to wear masks — even when they are outside on the playground.
She joined a coalition of Republican lawmakers — led by U.S. Senators John Thune, R-S.D. and Richard Burr, R-N.C., in urging U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to rescind the federal mask mandate on young children enrolled in Head Start.
Because Head Start is a federal program, a Health and Human Services Interim Final Rule (IRF) is still in effect that requires all staff and volunteers in Head Start educational facilities to be vaccinated and requires all staff, volunteers, and children two years of age and older to wear masks.
"This IFR continues to be an overly rigid, inflexible rule that complicates individual Head Start programs' ability to operate and attract staff and volunteers — though there is a preliminary injunction against the IFR in multiple states — and we request that you immediately rescind it," the Republican lawmakers wrote in the letter to Becerra. "The nation must continue to transition toward treating COVID-19 as an endemic condition and return to a sense of normalcy, and it is past time for Washington bureaucrats to allow Head Start programs to do the same."
West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin didn't sign on with Capito in the letter demanding an end to the mask mandate. In fact, no Democrats joined the Republican delegation in calling for the repeal of the rule forcing toddlers to wear masks.
According to Capito, the World Health Organization is now advising against mask mandates for children five years of age and younger.
An earlier U.S. Senate joint resolution seeking a repeal of the IFR — and a lifting of the mask mandate on kids in Head Start — was vetoed by Biden.
In the letter, the lawmakers argue that Head Start-aged children are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine if their families so choose. Thus they say there is no reason for a federal mask mandate on the small children.
— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com
— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com. Follow him @BDTOwens
