GOP Sen. Mitt Romney votes with Democrats to keep masks mandate for toddlers



Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) recently joined Democratic colleagues on the Health, Labor, Education, and Pensions Committee to approve a rule that keeps in place a mask mandate for toddlers involved in a federal early learning program.

What happened?

The controversial vote came Tuesday at a HELP committee hearing, during which lawmakers assessed a Department of Health and Human Services' rule requiring masks for all Head Start program participants — even for children as young as 2 years old.

Head Start is a federal program with chapters in all 50 states that aims to "promote the school readiness of children ages birth to 5 from low-income families."

Under the rule, effective Nov. 30, 2021, all Head Start participants 2 years of age and older are subject to "universal masking" with the aim of mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Head Start staff and volunteers are also required to be vaccinated.

Republicans on the committee, however, have sought to provide congressional disapproval of the HHS initiative. In particular, Sen. Mike Braun introduced an amendment seeking to prevent the department from implementing or enforcing its regulations on Head Start program participants.

But in a 12-10 vote Tuesday, Democratic committee members — with Romney's help — blocked Braun's amendment. Based on video of the vote posted on Twitter, Romney was the only Republican senator to side with Democrats on the committee.

Mitt Romney is human debris politically. Always has been, always will be. Some of us have been telling you this since 2007.https://twitter.com/rachelbovard/status/1503786467235180554\u00a0\u2026
— Steve Deace (@Steve Deace) 1647370692

What was the reaction?

News of Romney's vote quickly elicited condemnation from Republicans on social media.

BlazeTV host Steve Deace tweeted, "Mitt Romney is human debris politically. Always has been, always will be. Some of us have been telling you this since 2007."

Conservative digital strategist Greg Price wrote, "Mitt Romney is literally the worst."

Mitt Romney is literally the worsthttps://twitter.com/rachelbovard/status/1503786467235180554\u00a0\u2026
— Greg Price (@Greg Price) 1647370466

Seth Weathers was less cordial. He called the Utah senator and former Republican presidential nominee a "real piece of s**t."

"Was never big on Romney," Jedidiah Bila said. "Could never understand why a limited government advocate would flock to the Romneycare architect. Also, I remember a website that was up when he ran for President that showed how he’d been on both sides of every major issue."

Was never big on Romney. Could never understand why a limited government advocate would flock to the Romneycare architect. Also, I remember a website that was up when he ran for President that showed how he\u2019d been on both sides of every major issue.
— Jedediah Bila (@Jedediah Bila) 1647374730

TheBlaze reached out to Romney's office for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Anything else?

Braun's amendment enjoyed widespread support from Republican colleagues, including from moderate party members, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Republicans argued that HHS guidance should follow in step with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations that no longer call for mask-wearing in public.

"After being subjected to federal mask mandates for almost two years, President Biden announced in his State of the Union address under the CDC’s new mask guidelines, most Americans in most of the country can now be mask-free," Braun said during the hearing, according to the Federalist. “I completely agree with him on that. It’s time to get our lives back especially based upon science and not the political science."

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) added, "Really, what we’re doing is just punishing children. The rest of America is insulted by you telling them that their kids who are not at risk from dying from this disease, are not spreading it, that somehow we’re going to force these kids to keep wearing masks. It’s unscientific, it’s inhumane and it stunting their learning."

Daily Mail pulls Jedediah Bilah op-ed arguing COVID vax mandates are 'unjustified'



A Daily Mail op-ed arguing that U.S. President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandates are unjustified and discriminatory was published on Monday and then taken down by the outlet without explanation.

Conservative commentator Jedediah Bilah, a former Fox News host, said Tuesday that the Daily Mail solicited an op-ed from her on how vaccine mandates are facing resistance. After writing an article that got approved and was published, she said the outlet pulled it down without notifying her.

"I was approached by the Daily Mail to write an opinion piece on how Covid-19 vaccine mandates are facing resistance from freedom advocates, pushback by courts and companies, and non-compliance. I was asked to discuss my opposition to the mandates and why I believe they're ineffective. I agreed to the topic and wrote a column," Bilah said in a statement.

"The column was approved, published online, then pulled down overnight without notification," she said, providing a link to an Internet Archive snapshot of her op-ed taken while it was still live.

It\u2019s been an interesting morning.\nStatement below. \nReferenced link here: https://web.archive.org/web/20211221024356/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10330205/Biden-turns-unhinged-divisive-COVID-rhetoric-vax-mandates-come-short-JEDEDIAH-BILA.html\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/YQbuqpGocz
— Jedediah Bila (@Jedediah Bila) 1640104625

In her lengthy op-ed, Bilah called Biden a "cowardly president" and accused him of using "unhinged, increasingly divisive rhetoric because coercion wasn't getting the compliance he had hope for."

She also criticized use of the term "anti-vaxxer" to describe anyone opposed to regulations mandating vaccination, noting that many people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 nevertheless support the rights of unvaccinated people to refuse vaccination.

"Good faith objections to vaccine mandates are met with unscientific ridicule," Bilah observed, noting that in a recent appearance on "The View" to promote her new book, she was accused of spreading "misinformation" after stating that the vaccines do not prevent COVID-19 transmission, though she said it was "created to prevent severity of disease and to prevent hospitalization."

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance warns that the "risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection in fully vaccinated people cannot be completely eliminated as long as there is continued community transmission of the virus.”

"Early data suggest infections in fully vaccinated persons are more commonly observed with the Delta variant than with other SARS-CoV-2 variants. However, data show fully vaccinated persons are less likely than unvaccinated persons to acquire SARS-CoV-2, and infections with the Delta variant in fully vaccinated persons are associated with less severe clinical outcomes," the CDC states.

"Infections with the Delta variant in vaccinated persons potentially have reduced transmissibility than infections in unvaccinated persons, although additional studies are needed," the agency adds.

Last August, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told CNN that fully vaccinated people who get a COVID-19 breakthrough infection can still spread the virus to others, even if they do not show symptoms.

"I am not anti-vaxx," Bilah wrote.

"I am fighting for each of us, with our unique medical histories, risk factors, and beliefs, to have the chance to make the best decision for ourselves," she argued.

"Because both the vaccinated and unvaccinated can get and transmit the disease, vaccine mandates are not only unjustified, but also promote active discrimination."

The Daily Mail did not immediately respond when asked why Bilah's op-ed was removed.