On the recordNovember 14, 2023
The gentlewoman from Connecticut referred to evidence-based policies, and yet the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could not cite a single piece of evidence in support of this policy. Not only that, this policy has been rejected by the World Health Organization and the European equivalent of the CDC. I yield back to the gentlewoman and ask if she has come across any evidence that has somehow alluded the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the World Health Organization, and countries and our counterparts in Europe. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time. Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chair, I continue to oppose this amendment. I will make the point I made before. Why do we really want to politicize an issue of public health and public safety? We can come together around these issues. It is not a matter of gotcha. We all experienced a very traumatic period in our lives with COVID- 19. Yes, there were masks. We were trying to find our way forward to protect people in this country. That is essentially what it is all about. You can have a disagreement, but why would we prohibit the use of funds by HHS or any grantee to implement a mask mandate at Head Start programs when there is no Federal mask requirement in place? Mr. Chair, I oppose the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
