This past Wednesday, the currently Republican-controlled House carried out a vote to block the currently standing requirement that foreign travelers have proof of COVID vaccination to fly into the United States.
A total of seven Democrats elected to step across the aisle to join the GOP majority in order to push through the legislation with a vote of 227-201, sending the bill over to the currently Democrat-controlled Senate where it to be looking down the barrel of long odds.
Despite that, this vote does represent a win for Republicans who stand against the rules pushed out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which state that any adult visitor who wants to get into the United States via air needs to offer up proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to boarding a plane to get into the country.
As the person who introduced the bill, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) made the argument that the requirement from the CDC was quite baffling because immigrants are flooding across the nation’s southern border without them being subjected to any such regulations. “Where’s the logic in that?” he prompted.
The Democrats’ basic argument against my bill to end the COVID-19 mandate on international air visitors is this: Congress should defer to bureaucrats because “science is hard” and Democrats aren’t qualified to vote on laws affecting basic human rights. pic.twitter.com/T30MelBhu2
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) February 8, 2023
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) spoke up to state that Republicans are now putting “politics over science” and issued a warning that unvaccinated individuals could bring new, dangerous variants into the country.
Republicans are bringing their second bill in as many weeks to the House floor today that questions the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and undermines our public health agencies. I’m leading the opposition to this dangerous bill. pic.twitter.com/INb0Zeqmrg
— Rep. Frank Pallone (@FrankPallone) February 8, 2023
Currently, the federal government is slated to allow the coronavirus public health emergency to expire as of this coming May.
Pollone did note that policy-change discussions will be needed, but openly accused Republicans of trying to rush partisan legislation to the forefront without using any up-to-date input from public health officials. Due to that, he ended up having a problem with one particular clause of the bill which set up a block against “any successor or subsequent order” from the CDC requiring foreigners traveling by air to offer up proof of vaccination against COVID-19 as a requirement to actually enter the United States.
A total of over 1 million deaths across the United States had been publically attributed to COVID-19 since it first appeared on the world stage back in 2019. While the current rates are well below the peaks seen during the height of the pandemic, the CDC currently reports weekly deaths attributed to COVID as sitting between 2,500 and 4,400 since the beginning of this year.
As part of the Tuesday evening State of the Union address, Old Uncle Joe spoke up about the United States finally getting out of the grip of a multiple-year pandemic. “And today, COVID no longer controls our lives,” exclaimed the president.
