{"id":1424547,"date":"2022-04-07T19:14:53","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T23:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1424547"},"modified":"2022-04-07T19:14:56","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T23:14:56","slug":"watch-stefanik-grills-becerra-on-child-mask-mandate-biden-administration-woefully-out-of-touch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-stefanik-grills-becerra-on-child-mask-mandate-biden-administration-woefully-out-of-touch\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch \u2014 Stefanik Grills Becerra on Child Mask Mandate: Biden Administration \u2018Woefully out of Touch\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatch-stefanik-grills-becerra-on-child-mask-mandate-biden-administration-woefully-out-of-touch%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1424547&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) questioned President Joe Biden\u2019s chief health official Wednesday on the Biden administration\u2019s requirement that young children in the federal Head Start program wear masks.<\/p>\n<p>Stefanik, speaking during a House Education and Labor Committee hearing, demanded Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra provide reasoning for the mask requirement in Head Start, an HHS-run program for low-income families with children ages five years old and younger.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWhy is your agency still imposing this harmful mask mandate on toddlers and young children in the Head Start program?\u201d Stefanik asked, noting recent studies that she said revealed harmful effects of masking young children, including causing \u201climited vocabularies, delayed speech development, and difficulties with social interaction and confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Watch:<\/strong><\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Stefanik, the third-ranking Republican in the House, also pointed out to Becerra the inconsistencies in mask policies among various health agencies.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, the HHS policy deviates from the World Health Organization\u2019s mask policy, which\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/questions-and-answers\/item\/q-a-children-and-masks-related-to-covid-19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">states<\/a>, \u201cIn general, children aged\u00a0<strong>5 years and under<\/strong>\u00a0do not need to wear masks,\u201d and warns that \u201cchildren of this age should not wear masks for a long duration or without supervision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency housed under HHS,\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/prevent-getting-sick\/about-face-coverings.html#:~:text=CDC%20recommends%20universal%20indoor%20masking,layered%20prevention%20strategies%20in%20place.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">revised<\/a>\u00a0its mask policy in February to align with \u201ccommunity levels\u201d and specified that low and medium level communities, which is currently most of the country, do not generally have a mask requirement.<\/p>\n<p>Becerra replied to Stefanik,\u00a0\u201cWe know that masks are safe and they are effective. We know that many of our children, especially those that are under the age of five, can still not receive a vaccine, and so therefore they are in danger of contracting COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stefanik pressed Becerra, \u201cSo the position of you, Mr. Secretary, and the position of President Joe Biden is to require masks on children under the age of five?\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Becerra did not directly answer yes or no but noted, \u201cAt Head Start we are\u00a0reviewing the policies as we speak, but we will make sure that we\u2019re protecting every child in America under a Head Start program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Head Start program\u2019s home page currently prominently\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">features<\/a>\u00a0masked children, and while the Head Start office\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/tmsc.createsend.com\/campaigns\/reports\/viewCampaign.aspx?d=j&#038;c=3A108D6223F50AA6&#038;ID=AB3F63F79F75CFE62540EF23F30FEDED&#038;temp=False&#038;tx=0&#038;source=SnapshotHtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">acknowledges<\/a>\u00a0the conflicting CDC and Head Start mask policies, Head Start maintains its mask mandate on small children.<\/p>\n<p>The Head Start office also notes its forced masking policy is\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov\/policy\/article\/litigation-update-covid-19-vaccine-mask-requirements?utm_medium=email&#038;utm_campaign=CDC%20Community%20Levels%20Recommendations%20and%20Mask%20Wearing&#038;utm_content=CDC%20Community%20Levels%20Recommendations%20and%20Mask%20Wearing+Preview+CID_f576afeab440794c9a13e3a72a0d55dc&#038;utm_source=CM%20Eblast&#038;utm_term=preliminary%20injunctions&#038;cid=f576afeab440794c9a13e3a72a0d55dc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">facing<\/a>\u00a0legal challenges in the form of preliminary injunctions across 25 states.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it is the position of Joe Biden to require mask mandates only on children under the age of five, that is woefully out of touch with the American people. It\u2019s also woefully out of touch of health experts across this country,\u201d Stefanik concluded. \u201cI\u2019m glad you clarified that it is this president and your agency that is circumventing the best scientific and medical advice to impose these harmful mask mandates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Write to Ashley Oliver at <a href=\"mailto:aoliver@breitbart.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aoliver@breitbart.com<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter at <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/asholiver\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@asholiver<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) questioned President Joe Biden\u2019s chief health official Wednesday on the Biden administration\u2019s requirement that young children in the federal Head Start program wear masks. Stefanik, speaking<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1424547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1424547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1424547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1424547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1424547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}