[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 144 (Thursday, September 7, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4254-S4256]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2738

  Mr. VANCE. Mr. President, all of us have lived through the failed 
experiment of mass mandatory masking. Today, I want to ensure that we 
do not subject the American people to this tyranny again for the sake 
of nothing.
  We have recently seen a seasonal uptick of COVID cases across the 
country. This is not something to worry about. I don't like this fact 
that COVID is here to stay. Seasonal upticks in a respiratory virus are 
exactly to be expected. They shouldn't cause panic from our leadership 
or from our country, and they shouldn't cause us to reimpose a policy 
that has failed time and time again.
  Many are now calling to bring back mask mandates and regulate social 
gatherings. I have heard some of my friends on the opposite side of the 
aisle saying that no one is trying to do this, but let's just recapture 
and summarize the last couple of weeks in August. Lionsgate studios 
asked its employees to wear masks at their filming facility. Last week, 
Kaiser Permanente reimposed a requirement of staff and visitors to wear 
masks at its Santa Rosa, CA, facility. Schools such as Morris Brown 
College in Atlanta, and even local public schools here in the DC area, 
have reimposed mask mandates.
  Now, it is not just that masks--according to randomized control 
studies--do no good; it is that they could actively cause harm. We know 
a generation of school children have suffered significant speech and 
developmental disabilities because this country panicked instead of 
using its brain and forced toddlers and small children to wear masks. 
We cannot return to the failed policies of the COVID pandemic.
  I am not mad that we screwed up. I made mistakes. Many people in this 
body made mistakes. What I do think that we should avoid is repeating 
the mistakes in 2023. Let's learn from the mistakes that we made 
instead of just doubling down on them.
  This policy does not set anything for an unlimited period of time. It 
says that for the next 15 months, the government can't force you to 
wear a mask on planes, on public transit, or in public schools. 
Taxpayer dollars cannot be used to force and enforce a mandate against 
our people. It is not setting a policy that we cannot deal with 
pandemics in the future. If something else comes--God forbid--then let 
this body deal with it at that time.
  But now, let's heed the message from the American people, and let's 
learn the lessons of the past couple of years. Mandatory masking was a 
failure. It had costs for very little benefit, and we shouldn't repeat 
it.
  Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent 
that the

[[Page S4255]]

Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 2738, the Freedom 
to Breathe Act, which is at the desk; further, that the bill be 
considered read a third time and passed; and the motion to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action 
or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, this bill would undermine the ability of 
States, cities, and towns across this country to make decisions about 
what is best for their communities.
  It would silence and hamstring public health experts who have guided 
our Nation out of the darkest days of a pandemic that has killed 
1,139,000 people in our country in 3 years. Let me repeat that.
  This disease has killed 1,139,000 people already, and doctors and 
experts are saying that COVID is coming back. It is on the rise, once 
again. This provision would violate a long-held belief in the 
Republican Party that States and localities should not be told what to 
do by a Federal Government removed from the realities that they are 
seeing on the ground in their neighborhoods.
  This bill is little more than an attempt by Republicans to dismantle 
a public health infrastructure that had to be built in order to deal 
with this greatest of pandemics since 1918. What public health experts 
and the medical professionals are talking about is an upcoming COVID 
and flu and RSV season and preparing for it.
  These healthcare heroes are the same ones who risked their lives to 
save lives, and we should continue to protect that right to make 
decisions on the health of their patients, of their communities, and 
that is what locally focused healthcare is all about.
  Here is what we do know. Last year, the combined forces of this 
``tripledemic'' of flu, RSV, and COVID strained healthcare centers to a 
breaking point. Healthcare providers tried to keep up as emergency 
departments overflowed with sick children, adults, and seniors. And 
people are still getting sick.
  This year, healthcare providers, health centers, public health 
departments, transportation workers, and school districts are, once 
again, preparing to protect students and seniors and disabled and 
immunocompromised people all across our country. Millions of Americans 
will be doing what we can to protect ourselves and our loved ones, and 
our communities must be able to take steps to save lives and keep 
people from getting sick or getting sicker, including the tools of 
vaccines and masks.
  But the only thing that the Republicans seem willing to mask is their 
antipathy for making healthcare affordable and acceptable for millions 
of Americans. Republicans already fought this year to throw people off 
of Medicare and their health coverage. Not a single Republican voted to 
make insulin and other medications more affordable for seniors.
  Republicans have blocked legislation to protect the right of 
individuals to make healthcare decisions with their doctors. It makes 
no sense to put limits on how communities and individuals can protect 
themselves. This bill is a red herring. It is a false debate. We should 
have an aquarium down in the well of the Senate to capture all of the 
red herrings that are being introduced into this public health debate. 
It is a distraction; it is misleading; and it is meant to deflect from 
what the GOP really stands for right now, ``Gimmicks Over People.''
  Republicans have to understand that we have to provide the options 
for our healthcare heroes to save lives. They will make us less safe 
because they will be tying the hands of healthcare professionals in 
order to implement policies that protect against an addition to the 
1.139 million people who have already died.
  You argue that this bill is about freedom, but it is not. Freedom is 
parents and students knowing their school can take every step possible 
to keep them from getting sick or taking home an illness that could 
hurt their siblings, their parents, or their grandparents.
  Freedom is workers who know their workplace on a plane, train, or 
even in a classroom is safe. Freedom is knowing that when people 
travel, either on their way to work by way of public transportation or 
across the country to visit family for the holidays, they will know 
that every safety measure is available to keep them and their families 
safe.
  We must protect the freedom for communities to have every public 
health tool available, if it is needed in the opinion of the public 
health officials in that community, in that State. They should be the 
ones making the decision, at the local level, looking at the dangers to 
their population.
  Again, these numbers are historic: 1,139,000 people have already 
died, and there is more coming. And if in the opinion of public health 
officials, strategies can be adopted using masks that reduce the 
likelihood that more will die, we should give them that freedom to make 
those decisions.
  With that, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  Mr. VANCE. Mr. President, let me offer a couple of thoughts in 
response.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. VANCE. Mr. President, I know we are on a short timeline, but let 
me just offer a couple of points in response, and then I will let this 
body go on with its business.
  No. 1, Senator Markey mentioned the tragic number of Americans, over 
1 million, who lost their lives due to COVID. And I agree that it is a 
tragedy, and I wish that we hadn't lost them. But we lost them in spite 
of some of the most aggressive masking policies in the world. If 
mandatory masking were going to save our citizens, it would have 
already done so. That is the first point.
  The second point is that this legislation doesn't prevent any of our 
citizens from wearing masks. If you would like to wear a mask, of 
course, you have the right to do so, but the Senator talked about 
freedom. What I would like is for the freedom of a school child to not 
be thrown out of the classroom because he doesn't want to wear a mask. 
I would like the freedom of airline passengers to be able to go and 
visit their families and not be thrown off an airplane because they 
refuse to wear a mask. Freedom is fundamentally about respecting that 
you might have a different view than I do, respecting that, accepting 
it, and not using government mandates to force our fellow citizens to 
do exactly what we want them to do but to let us all figure this out 
together.
  The final point that I will make here is I heard some pretty alarming 
rhetoric from my friend on the other side of the aisle. We are about to 
have some serious respiratory problems. We always do in the fall, and 
maybe it will be worse this fall and this winter than before. But I 
think that what our children most of all need--and I am the father of 
three kids under the age of 7--they need us to not be ``Chicken 
Little'' about every single respiratory pandemic and problem that 
confronts this country.
  We are going to have people who get sick from viruses. It has always 
been thus, and the way to respond to it is with calmness, resolve, and 
strategic thinking, not by pretending the world is ending because what 
has always happened is going to happen once again.
  We cannot repeat the anxiety, the stress, and the nonstop panic of 
the last couple of years. That is what this legislation is about. End 
the mandates; end the panic; and let's get back to some common sense.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to support Senator Vance's 
Freedom to Breathe Act. I believe this bill is a vital step to protect 
the individual's rights as well as preserving State's rights. And in 
the interest of time, I would just point out, too, that we have a 
number of Republican Senators on the floor standing with Senator Vance 
in support of this legislation. I see Senator Cruz here from Texas, 
Senator Mike Braun from Indiana, Ted Budd from North Carolina, Katie 
Britt from Alabama, and Eric Schmitt of Missouri. I appreciate all of 
them being here to support and stand with Senator Vance on this 
important piece of legislation.
  I yield the floor.

[[Page S4256]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to 
speak for up to 7 minutes and Senator Markey for up to 5 minutes prior 
to the scheduled rollcall vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.