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February 16, 2022 - Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), John Thune (R-SD), and Senate colleagues introduced a joint resolution of disapproval (S. J. Res. 39) to nullify a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) interim final rule (IFR) that requires all staff and volunteers in Head Start educational facilities to be fully vaccinated and wear a mask. Most notably, this resolution would also nullify the IFR’s mandate for all children two years of age and older to wear a mask, including when they are playing outside. Congress can consider this resolution using expedited procedures under the Congressional Review Act and can pass it by a simple majority vote.
Click here to see a full list of cosponsors.
In December 2021, Rubio, Thune, and Senate colleagues introduced separate legislation to nullify this IFR, and in January 2021, the senators sent a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra requesting that the administration rescind the IFR.
The Head Start program is a federal government program that provides qualifying, low-income children with early education services. Program facilities are located throughout the nation, including 908 programs in Florida, and, up until the issuance of this IFR, individual locations had been able to set and enforce their own COVID-19 protocols.
The full text of the resolution is below.
Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Health and Human Services relating to ‘‘Vaccine and Mask Requirements To Mitigate the Spread of COVID–19 in Head Start Programs’’.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Department of Health and Human Services relating to ‘‘Vaccine and Mask Requirements To Mitigate the Spread of COVID–19 in Head Start Programs’’ (86 Fed. Reg. 2 68052 (November 30, 2021)), and such rule shall have no force or effect.
Source: Senator Marco Rubio
