Paul Bedard
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/sen-braun-mask-mandate-a-blue-state-bailout
The Biden administration’s flip-flop on mandating masks will lead to a new round of bailouts to Democratic-controlled blue states, according to a critical Midwest senator.
Instead of telling states what to do to control the new coronavirus cases, and potentially snuffing out the post-COVID-19 economic recovery, former businessman and Indiana Sen. Mike Braun Tuesday urged Washington to leave it to locals to handle the crisis.
“My observation is when you put the task to businesses and Main Street, they did everything to keep their employees and customers safe,” he said in reaction to reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to urge vaccinated people to re-mask.
He suggested that the flip-flop could be seen as a blue-state bailout plan by the easy-spending Biden administration.
“Now, we’re talking about some of the failed policies that put our economy in a hurt. Blue states asked for a bailout from the federal government on account of it, and it looks like we’re looping right back to it,” he said in a video titled “No more COVID mandates, masking, things that didn’t work.”
The plain-speaking Republican said that more national mandates won’t work. His warning came as the Biden White House is considering demanding that high-COVID states return to economy-squeezing policies of masking and social distancing.
“I’m going to be a voice for saying, hey, let this be solved at the grassroots level. Let local governments and businesses deal with it,” he said, adding, “There was no data that showed that it worked with the oppressive, heavy-handed government approach to begin with. Be respectful of the disease, exercise individual responsibility. That’s the key.”
