Chip Roy challenges Jerry Nadler over forced toddler masking during pandemic
Julia Johnson
Video Embed
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) called out Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) on the House floor on Wednesday for defending the forced masking of 2-year-olds during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggesting not doing so would be “child abuse.”
In a floor speech in support of his amendment to the REINS Act, which sought to prevent the executive branch from unilaterally enacting rules “likely to result in an increase in mandatory vaccinations,” Roy said: “Why should we wait on the Supreme Court to check the unconstitutional, unlawful, and tyrannical actions by an executive branch that shut down the greatest economy in the history of the world, forcing people to choose between their livelihoods, their ability to make money, their families, their ability to go to school, the ability of a nurse to be able to go in and perform her job in a hospital?”
PUSH TO ADD NEW LONG-HAUL FLIGHTS AT REAGAN NATIONAL SHIFTS TO SENATE
He then pointed to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who defended a policy forcing 2-year-old children to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic when he was questioned at a Tuesday hearing held by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
“Mr. Secretary, did forcing 2-year-olds to wear masks save lives?” Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) asked at the time.
“Making sure people were masked when it was appropriate was essential to making sure we were able to get out of this pandemic,” Becerra maintained.
iFrame Object
Following Roy, Nadler spoke against the amendment, addressing Becerra’s defense of toddler masking as well.
“When we have a pandemic like the COVID-19 pandemic that we had, 2-year-olds should have been required to wear masks. It would be child abuse for parents not to do that because there was no vaccination available for 2-year-olds,” he said. “And the only way to protect them against COVID was to have them wear masks, and these mandates are meant to protect the public’s health and safety.”
Afterward, Roy suggested that he should yield all his remaining time to Nadler because he was making his point for him.
“I want everybody in America to understand what they just heard from the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee in the United States House of Representatives: ‘Your 2-year-old should be forced to be masked.’ That is what the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee just said here on the floor of the House of Representatives,” said Roy.
“That the power of the government — the full power of the federal government should be a part of ensuring and forcing your children — your 2-year-old child to be masked,” he continued.
Nadler continued to voice his opposition to the amendment, explaining that the COVID-19 vaccine is “just another vaccine. It’s another vaccine for a very raging pandemic we just had and which is hopefully over although people are still dying of COVID-19.”
“The REINS Act would make it much more difficult to require or even to drop the requirement for vaccination. And this amendment would specifically make it more difficult, and that’s ridiculous from a public health point of view,” the New York Democrat said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The amendment ultimately succeeded, receiving 219 votes in favor of it, with the exclusion of five Republicans in Reps. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Don Bacon (R-NE), Zach Nunn (R-IA), and Mike Lawler (R-NY).
The House voted 221-210 on Wednesday to pass the REINS Act.