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“The Biden administration is already going in the wrong direction,” Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) Said Friday. “The continued influence of the federal government will not end the Covid-19 pandemic or put food on the table.
And within days, it became clearer that opponents would not just complain about the mask’s mandate, but actively fight it as well.
“Really expect lawsuits from our state, private lawsuits,” said Brendan Steinhauser, a Texas-based GOP strategist and former campaign manager for Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas).
The crackdown on Biden’s mask tenure is the earliest and most visceral sign yet that consensus will be nearly impossible to form in a still heavily divided DC and it raises questions about how far the new administration is ready. to go to crush what’s left. of a deadly pandemic, with an expectation of 100,000 more deaths next month and widespread vaccination in a few months.
Under the executive order, Biden orders departments and agencies under his jurisdiction “to take immediate action to require persons in federal buildings or on federal lands, federal employees on duty or on site, and federal contractors on site to wear a mask. and maintain a physical distance, ”according to the White House.
But the order also requires masks on various modes of public transportation, including trains, planes and intercity buses. And it is this provision, say lawyers who have challenged mask warrants in the past, that could be most vulnerable to legal challenge.
While Republicans warn of the potential for overshoot, it doesn’t look like the White House will play a direct role in sanctioning those who flout the mask mandate. A White House official said agencies will be responsible for enforcing the order as they see fit. National parks must also adhere to the mask ordinance, but the White House says it allows officials who oversee parks to create their own guidelines for indoor and outdoor spaces on their properties.
At least one lawyer who has led a court case against the mask warrants, said the language in Biden’s order appeared tightly drafted, possibly in anticipation of legal challenges.
“In the summary I reviewed, I see evidence of careful thought and planning to anticipate challenges,” said Seldon Childers, a Florida attorney who has an ongoing case challenging mask warrants. . “I think they will probably prevail over authority regulations.”
Scientists and epidemiologists say wearing masks is a key way to slow the spread of Covid. And it was no surprise that Biden made that tenure one of his first acts in office. Throughout the campaign, he pledged to act on the first day of his presidency.
But the repression was nonetheless visceral. A month ago, Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) berated Biden’s idea of a mask tenure on Twitter. “The first day,” he said, “I’ll tell you to kiss my ass.”
And, after the warrant was formally introduced, Republicans sued BIden, calling him a hypocrite for not wearing a mask at the Lincoln Memorial hours after signing the warrant.
“Typical Democrat – rules for you, not for me,” tweeted former Trump campaign official Marc Lotter.
Ari Fleischer, former George W. Bush press secretary, tweeted a New York Post article titled “President Biden Abandons Mask at Lincoln Memorial Hours After In Office”.
At a press briefing Thursday, a Fox News reporter asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki if Biden was practicing what he preached.
“We are taking a number of Covid precautions, as you know here, in terms of testing, social distancing, wearing masks, like we do every day,” Psaki said.
Pushing against scientific consensus, Florida State Representative Anthony Sabatini, who has launched more than a dozen local lawsuits to fight mask warrants in counties across the state, took issue with the idea that masks actually reduce the spread of the virus. He pointed to California, where compliance is high even as Covid-19 cases have exploded. He also insisted that there was no practical point in this, because, he argued, most federal properties already require masks and label Biden’s move as policy.
“I think he’s the one that’s all about the optics, it’s not really about the results,” Sabatini said. “He wants to get his message across that he cares. He cares more about looking like he’s doing something.
Biden advisers don’t necessarily dispute the idea that the point of the order isn’t the mandate itself but the lens and the message it sends. They say Biden felt it was important for Americans to hear a clear message about the benefits of wearing a mask – a White House official claiming there was “no unifying standard” under Donald Trump. But the edict is also part of what they described as a multi-faceted effort to contain the spread of the virus at a time Biden has repeatedly warned it would be a “dark winter.” And the more mask wear is respected, Biden advisers say, the more opportunity the country has to reduce the spread of the virus.
– with reports by Mark Scott and Tin Nguyen
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