Washington, DC— March 17, 2022….Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) joined Republican lawmakers in demanding the Biden Administration rescind its arbitrary extension of the federal transportation mask mandate.
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 Biden Administration failed to do the necessary work to harmonize its policies between the CDC’s February 25th announcement of its new Community Level framework and the TSA’s March 10th extension of the transportation mask mandate – applying one standard to most Americans and another to transportation users and workers.
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.
Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) has represented Arkansas’s Third Congressional District since 2011. He is a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
