Despite the resolution succeeding in the Senate, it is unlikely to move in the Democratic-led House and would likely be opposed by President Joe Biden. The White House had issued a veto threat against the proposal earlier Tuesday.
The final vote was 57-40, with eight Democrats joining Republicans in favor of the resolution. One GOP senator voted against the measure: Mitt Romney of Utah.
The Democrats who voted to rid of the mask mandate are: the senators from Nevada, Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto; the senators from Arizona, Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema; Michael Bennet of Colorado, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Jon Tester of Montana.
Kelly, Bennet, Cortez Masto and Hassan are all up for reelection this year.
Paul forced a vote on his resolution using the Congressional Review Act. The act allows senators to overturn federal agencies’ regulations within a certain time frame and can do it by a majority threshold without having to clear the typical 60 votes to overcome a legislative filibuster.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced it would extend the federal public transportation mask mandate through April 18. The extension comes while many mask mandates have been rescinded in states and schools across the nation as coronavirus cases have plummeted since the Omicron surge earlier this year. The move also comes as Republicans have kept pressure on the White House and congressional Democrats to ease various federal requirements designed to combat Covid-19.
Ahead of the vote, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia urged his colleagues not to back Paul’s resolution, arguing the federal travel mask mandate is set to expire next month and Congress should allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention time to come up with new guidance.
“Instead, let’s work with the CDC and see what guidance they come up with for this April 18 deadline. That would be much better for public health and much better for our economy,” Kaine said in remarks on the Senate floor.
Paul, who sits on the Senate Health Committee, has been one of the loudest and strongest GOP opponents of mask-wearing and has not often been seen by CNN wearing a mask throughout the pandemic.
“Since March 2020, unelected bureaucrats have incessantly declared that we should ‘follow the science.’ But the same bureaucrats continue to defy science by imposing an ineffective and restrictive mask mandate for individuals traveling on public transit and airplanes,” said Paul, who is also an ophthalmologist, in a recent statement on his plans to force a vote on the resolution. “As the entire world is learning to live with COVID, the federal government still uses fear mongering to stubbornly perpetuate its mandates, rather than giving clear-eyed, rational advice on how to best protect yourself from illness.”
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the ranking GOP member of the Senate Commerce Committee, added on Tuesday that Republicans are making this “common-sense request of the administration on behalf of the American people.”
“When the rules of government do not comply with common sense, it offends free Americans to have to abide by some silly rule and you can expect the objections we’re hearing from the public,” he said at a news conference.
This is not the first Congressional Review Act resolution the Senate has taken up this Congress. Last year, the Senate approved a resolution to block Biden’s vaccine mandate on private employers.
The Senate on Tuesday passed a resolution from Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky to repeal the federal travel mask mandates on public transportation, in a bipartisan rebuke to the Biden administration’s policy.
Despite the resolution succeeding in the Senate, it is unlikely to move in the Democratic-led House and would likely be opposed by President Joe Biden. The White House had issued a veto threat against the proposal earlier Tuesday.
The final vote was 57-40, with eight Democrats joining Republicans in favor of the resolution. One GOP senator voted against the measure: Mitt Romney of Utah.
The Democrats who voted to rid of the mask mandate are: the senators from Nevada, Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto; the senators from Arizona, Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema; Michael Bennet of Colorado, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Jon Tester of Montana.
Kelly, Bennet, Cortez Masto and Hassan are all up for reelection this year.
Paul forced a vote on his resolution using the Congressional Review Act. The act allows senators to overturn federal agencies’ regulations within a certain time frame and can do it by a majority threshold without having to clear the typical 60 votes to overcome a legislative filibuster.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced it would extend the federal public transportation mask mandate through April 18. The extension comes while many mask mandates have been rescinded in states and schools across the nation as coronavirus cases have plummeted since the Omicron surge earlier this year. The move also comes as Republicans have kept pressure on the White House and congressional Democrats to ease various federal requirements designed to combat Covid-19.
Ahead of the vote, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia urged his colleagues not to back Paul’s resolution, arguing the federal travel mask mandate is set to expire next month and Congress should allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention time to come up with new guidance.
“Instead, let’s work with the CDC and see what guidance they come up with for this April 18 deadline. That would be much better for public health and much better for our economy,” Kaine said in remarks on the Senate floor.
Paul, who sits on the Senate Health Committee, has been one of the loudest and strongest GOP opponents of mask-wearing and has not often been seen by CNN wearing a mask throughout the pandemic.
“Since March 2020, unelected bureaucrats have incessantly declared that we should ‘follow the science.’ But the same bureaucrats continue to defy science by imposing an ineffective and restrictive mask mandate for individuals traveling on public transit and airplanes,” said Paul, who is also an ophthalmologist, in a recent statement on his plans to force a vote on the resolution. “As the entire world is learning to live with COVID, the federal government still uses fear mongering to stubbornly perpetuate its mandates, rather than giving clear-eyed, rational advice on how to best protect yourself from illness.”
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the ranking GOP member of the Senate Commerce Committee, added on Tuesday that Republicans are making this “common-sense request of the administration on behalf of the American people.”
“When the rules of government do not comply with common sense, it offends free Americans to have to abide by some silly rule and you can expect the objections we’re hearing from the public,” he said at a news conference.
This is not the first Congressional Review Act resolution the Senate has taken up this Congress. Last year, the Senate approved a resolution to block Biden’s vaccine mandate on private employers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic-led House passed legislation Wednesday designed to constrain a president’s power to limit entry to the U.S., a response to former President Donald Trump’s travel ban covering five Muslim-majority countries.
President Joe Biden reversed the travel restrictions from the Trump administration in one of his first moves in office, easing limits on Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, as well as North Korea and some government officials from Venezuela. But Democrats say Congress has a responsibility to prevent future administrations from enacting similarly broad restrictions.
The bill passed the House by a vote of 218-208. It is unlikely to advance in the evenly split Senate, with Republicans broadly opposed.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said presidents from both parties have used their authority to exclude narrow groups of people from entering the U.S, such as certain North Korean officials. “But former President Trump abused this authority, twisting it in ways that were never intended.”
The White House announced its support for the measure earlier this week. “The prior Administration’s haphazard misuse of this authority highlights the need for reasonable constraints,” it said.
Trump had proposed a broad, all-encompassing Muslim ban during the presidential campaign. Within a week of him taking office in early 2017, the first travel ban was announced with little notice, causing chaos at airports and sparking protests across the nation.
The Trump administration was forced to revise its original order twice to resolve legal problems concerning due process, implementation and exclusive targeting of Muslim nations.
In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the ban in a 5-4 decision. It determined that the ban was within a U.S. president’s considerable authority over immigration and responsibility for keeping the nation safe.
Republicans said Trump’s actions were not a Muslim ban. Rather, he was seeking to secure the United States from terrorists. They said the ban was limited to countries that were previously designated by Congress or prior administrations as posing national security risks.
They also noted that the ban affected only a fraction of Muslim-majority countries.
“Do not listen to repetitions and lies about Muslim bans when it is not true,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
“The president said he was going to impose a Muslim ban, and he did,” Nadler countered.
Under the House bill, sponsored by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., the secretaries of state and homeland security must first determine that the entry of certain aliens would undermine national security or public safety before the president could order a temporary travel restriction.
Republicans called that requirement a “constitutional absurdity.”
“You know, in this bill, the president may only act if the secretary of state allows him to act, and that is backwards,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri lawmakers are proposing prohibiting vaccine passports.
The Senate gave final approval Wednesday to a proposal from Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, that would prohibit transportation systems from requiring documentation of vaccine status. These include air travel, buses, taxicab services or any other public transportation. The bill also includes “prearranged rides” in the prohibition.
Eigel said on Twitter that “you will not need to ‘show your papers’ to travel freely in accordance with your rights in Missouri” under his proposal.
Vaccine passports are the concept that an app would show if someone has had the coronavirus vaccine. A person would show their vaccine passport in order to be allowed to travel or go to large venues.
Supporters say vaccine passports would ease concerns with travel and restaurants and entertainment venues, along with preventing a further spread of the virus. Critics of the idea say the policy is an invasion of privacy. They argue that vaccination records are private information that individuals should not be required to share.
As Republican governors’ concern over vaccine passports has grown, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the Biden administration does not plan on creating a vaccine passport system.
JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri lawmakers are proposing prohibiting vaccine passports.
As more people are being vaccinated around the world, airlines and federal governments are considering requiring proof of coronavirus vaccination for travel.
The Senate gave final approval Wednesday to a proposal from Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, that would prohibit transportation systems from requiring documentation of vaccine status. These include air travel, buses, taxicab services or any other public transportation. The bill also includes “prearranged rides” in the prohibition.
Eigel said on Twitter that “you will not need to ‘show your papers’ to travel freely in accordance with your rights in Missouri” under his proposal.
Vaccine passports are the concept that an app would show if someone has had the coronavirus vaccine. A person would show their vaccine passport in order to be allowed to travel or go to large venues.
Supporters say vaccine passports would ease concerns with travel and restaurants and entertainment venues, along with preventing a further spread of the virus. Critics of the idea say the policy is an invasion of privacy. They argue that vaccination records are private information that individuals should not be required to share.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has previously said the state will not require such such passports.
As Republican governors’ concern over vaccine passports has grown, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the Biden administration does not plan on creating a vaccine passport system.
Republican Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen of Ferndale has missed more votes on the final passage of bills out of the Senate this session than any other senator, records show. For some of those missed votes, he was in El Salvador, where he was observing elections that took place Feb. 28.
In a typical session, senators would have to be in Olympia to vote. But this session, most lawmakers are voting remotely because of COVID-19 precautions in place. There’s no rule prohibiting senators from being out of the state, Secretary of the Senate Brad Hendrickson confirmed.
However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends travelers avoid all travel to El Salvador, where levels of the disease are “very high.” Ericksen said in a text message that he took “multiple” COVID-19 tests and “all precautions.”
Ericksen’s roll call voting record for the session through March 9 shows he missed 38 of 205 votes on bills’ final passage. Using that same data, senators had been marked “absent” or “excused” 131 times at that point in session for those sort of votes — Ericksen accounted for 29 percent of them.
In a phone interview, Ericksen said he’s sure his trip impacted his ability to vote. But he pointed out that his one vote wouldn’t have changed the outcome of any of those bills in a chamber dominated by Democrats.
In text messages, he followed up to add he had participated in “legislative actions” while in El Salvador, such as caucus meetings and working with staff.
“Obviously if we were not working remotely, I would not have gone,” he wrote.
He did still successfully vote many times on bills’ final passage in the period he said he was abroad. Ericksen did not answer a follow-up question regarding whether it was technical issues or something else that prevented him from voting the times he did not.
In an emailed statement, Senate Minority Leader John Braun of Centralia said he knew Ericksen would be out on travel and agreed that Ericksen’s decision didn’t impact vote results.
“We are a citizen legislature,” Braun’s statement reads. “Many of us have jobs or other responsibilities that are capable of temporarily taking us away from the Senate. This year many of us also have experienced connectivity issues, regardless of location — even when we have been in Olympia.
“I knew Senator Ericksen was going to be out on travel. I don’t believe he made that decision lightly, knowing how seriously he takes his work on behalf of his district,” Braun said. “I understand he had verified connectivity and was confident about engaging in all of his legislative duties. I don’t see that his decision affected the outcome of any votes.”
Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig of Spokane and Lt. Gov. Denny Heck declined to comment for this story.
The missed-vote count
Roll call votes are required when bills are up for final passage out of the Senate, Secretary of the Senate Hendrickson confirmed.
Ericksen said he left for El Salvador the Saturday before the elections, Feb. 27, and that he believes he came back the following Thursday, which would’ve been March 4. McClatchy has requested a copy of his calendar and received an estimate of March 26 for the records to be available.
His roll call voting record this session through March 9 shows he missed voting on many bills’ passage out of the Senate in that general time frame: Eight on Feb. 25, one on the 26th, two on March 1, 13 on March 2, two on March 3, none on March 4, and 11 on March 5.
While he also successfully voted on bills each of those days, that time period accounts for all but one of the votes he’s missed so far this session on bills’ final passage. On Feb. 25, he also missed a vote in the Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee for which he’s the ranking member, on Gov. Jay Inslee’s cap-and-trade proposal.
McClatchy offered Ericksen the opportunity to provide reasons for missing 37 votes on bills’ passage out of the Senate between Feb. 25 and March 5, and he did not provide an explanation.
After a vote on a bill’s passage, which Ericksen participated in, Padden thanked the Legislative Service Center and caucus leaders for their work “trying to handle a virtual session” before decrying Ericksen’s inability to participate in debate.
“The 150,000-160,000 residents of the 42nd District were disenfranchised during this debate due to technical problems and the inability of the good senator, Sen. Doug Ericksen, from being able to participate in the debate,” he said, before naming other examples when senators couldn’t connect and voicing concerns over frequent glitches in audio.
Padden’s spokesperson, Booker Stallworth, said the senator did not know Ericksen was out of the country at the time.
Other senators who missed votes
Sen. Tim Sheldon of Potlatch accounts for the next-biggest portion of missed votes on bills’ passage. Records show Sheldon, a Democrat who caucuses with Republicans, missed 24 of the votes. Most of his missed votes happened on two days, Feb. 16 and 23.
He told McClatchy he had doctor appointments in Olympia on Feb. 16. On Feb. 23, he said he had his daughter’s birthday celebration and a Bonneville and Energy Northwest workshop on debt management. He doesn’t like missing votes, he said, and has traditionally had a good track record of avoiding it.
Sen. Jim Honeyford of Sunnyside accounted for the third-most missed votes on bills’ final passage, and all but one of his 17 came from a single day. Sen. Honeyford said via email that he was absent that day because he had sought a COVID-19 vaccine in Olympia, but was unsuccessful and had to return to his district to find an available dose.
In an analysis of roll call votes where senators were marked “absent” or “excused” on Ericksen’s voting record through March 9, McClatchy found no other senators had missed more than a dozen votes on bills’ final passage.
Ericksen’s trip to El Salvador
Ericksen posted a video about his trip to El Salvador on We Speak, a social media platform billed as a “constitutional and conservative, family friendly” platform “with no censorship,” and shared a link on his Facebook page.
“It’s always an interesting experience to travel to a different country to see how their election process works,” he says in the video. “In El Salvador, I was incredibly impressed with the organization of the election, the free and fair nature of the election, the ability for individuals to come and vote.”
He goes on to praise in-person voting, a requirement for voters to present photo identification, and other aspects of the election. The video also includes footage from the polls.
Footage shows Ericksen outfitted in an American flag face covering and wearing a lanyard apparently bearing credentials. He told McClatchy those credentials indicated his role as an election observer.
After the Feb. 28 election, the party of President Nayib Bukele and allies were set to claim a supermajority in the country’s Legislative Assembly. Critics fear the party is approaching authoritarian rule, according to The Washington Post’s election coverage.
Bukele’s actions have been compared to those of former U.S. President Donald Trump. He called a news conference on Election Day, The New York Times reported, to claim voting irregularities and mounted attacks on the press, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and attorney general.
Ericksen, who was operations director for Trump’s Western Washington campaign, said he was invited to El Salvador by multiple people, including the country’s vice president. The vice president had visited Washington last year, Ericksen said, and he hosted the official along with business and community leaders for events.
He says he paid for the trip to El Salvador with personal money, though he thinks a trip like this is part of any legislator’s role. He has proposed legislation that would end mail-in voting in Washington, require photo IDs to vote, make Election Day a state holiday, and institute other election-related changes.
Echoes of past controversy
The report on Ericksen’s trip may sound familiar. He observed Cambodia’s 2018 elections at the invitation of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government, as first reported by The Seattle Times.
Ericksen praised those widely condemned elections, the Times reported. He’s a registered foreign agent for Cambodia, and the company he launched with former state Rep. Jay Rodne has a $500,000 contract with the country’s government.
“Ericksen’s parlaying of his elected position into a business relationship with the authoritarian Hun Sen regime is attracting condemnation from human-rights activists, local Cambodian Americans, exiled leaders of Cambodia’s opposition party and even a Republican congressman,” the Seattle Times story reads.
Ericksen told McClatchy that his trip to El Salvador was separate from that work.
His missed votes also have been scrutinized before. He missed time in Olympia during the 2017 legislative session, after taking a temporary job with the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency’s transition team.
At that time, his missing-in-action status got national attention. That was when Republicans controlled the state Senate by one vote, so everyone in the party was needed to pass party-line legislation. Some Democrats asserted he was slowing the committee process and forcing the chamber to work around his schedule.
In an interview with McClatchy, Ericksen suggested the line of questioning about El Salvador and his missed votes was leading to a “gotcha” story. He said he works hard for the people he represents.
“The key thing is I have election reform legislation,” Ericksen said. “And I think if the Democrats brought that up for a vote, that would be a great thing for Washington state.”
Related stories from Tacoma News Tribune
Sara Gentzler joined The Olympian in June 2019 as a county and courts reporter. She now covers Washington state government for The Olympian, The News Tribune, The Bellingham Herald, and Tri-City Herald. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Creighton University.
A wet Welcome to Juneau sign, taken on June 3, 2020. (Photo by Jennifer Pemberton / KTOO)
It’s going to be easier for independent travelers to visit Juneau after the city assembly voted Monday night to relax travel requirements.
It’s welcome news for the tourism industry, which is looking forward to some business from independent travelers. The busy cruise ship season, which usually brings the bulk of the city’s visitors, is on hold while Canada’s waters are closed to cruise ships.
The new changes don’t mean the city is lifting all the requirements, but they are meant to be encouraging for COVID-conscious travelers.
Starting this week, the city is waiving the $250 testing fee for nonresidents arriving at the city’s airport. Additionally, travelers who have been fully vaccinated for at least two weeks and don’t show symptoms are no longer required to socially distance for five days after they arrive.
For now, non-vaccinated travelers are still required to test before they travel and arrive with proof of a negative result. Or they can get a free COVID-19 test upon arrival and strict social distance while they wait for results.
On May 1, all travelers, vaccinated or not, will no longer be required to test at the airport or follow strict social distance guidelines. But all travelers must still register on the State of Alaska Travel Portal.
City manager Rorie Watt said at the assembly meeting that the city “won’t be shy” about letting the community know if plans need to change.
Juneau is currently at alert level 1, which is the lowest risk level for COVID-19 in the community.
.jpg)
