WASHINGTON – The Senate on Tuesday passed a resolution that would undo expanded federal regulation Masks are required on planes, trains, subways and other modes of public transportation.
The Senate approved the measure in a 57-40 vote, with eight Democrats joining Republicans to pass the resolution. Mitt Romney of Utah was the only GOP senator to oppose the measure.
It now goes to the House, where it is unclear whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will allow a vote.
The resolution, which was considered under the Congressional Review Act, required only a simple majority to pass the Senate. It was not subject to a 60-vote filibuster.
Last week, the Biden administration extended the mask requirement on planes and other forms of public transportation until April 18.
The administration said at the time that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would “work with government agencies to help inform a revised policy framework for when and under what circumstances masks should be required in the public transportation corridor.”
“It is a free country. If someone wants to wear a mask on a five-hour flight from one American city to another, there’s no reason they can’t,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said at a news conference ahead of the vote. ..
“But the testimony we have at the Commerce Committee, from the airline industry and from scientists, is that airline air is the safest air that Americans can breathe indoors, anywhere,” he said.
