Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, this amendment would prohibit the enforcement of any COVID-19 mask mandates. However, the VA has already relaxed mask mandates except in high-risk areas where patients could be put in danger by someone who has a respiratory infection. For example, the VA continues to require masks near chemotherapy units, transplant units, and emergency rooms. In other words, this amendment would override safety precautions put in place for the VA's most at-risk patients. It would block masking requirements near chemotherapy patients, whose immune systems have been brutally weakened by treatments to fight cancer. It would block masking requirements in the vicinity of surgery patients, where a dangerous respiratory virus could be deadly. It would block masking requirements near intensive care units filled with patients with severe, life-threatening illnesses. This amendment is reckless, and it would endanger the lives of our most vulnerable patients at the VA. This amendment is not about a mask mandate at the office, it is not about a mask mandate at the grocery store. This amendment would block mask requirements at VA hospitals and healthcare facilities. How ludicrous could anything be?…”