The Biden administration is now doing a 180 with its plan to make Americans provide a negative COVID test before flying.
This past Friday, “Circle Back” White House Press Press Secretary Jen Psaki denied reports that the former vice president and his team would be implementing the new policy that was revealed by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg last week.
During an interview with Axios, failed presidential candidate little Pete Buttigeg revealed that Biden was mulling the restrictive new measure:
.@SecretaryPete tells @mikeallen there's “active conversation with the CDC” on requiring a COVID test before domestic flights: “The safer we can make air travel in terms of perception as well as reality, the more people are going to be ready to get back in the air.” #AxiosonHBO pic.twitter.com/XuDdzHMelx
— Axios (@axios) February 7, 2021
According to Buttigieg: “…here’s the thing: The safer we can make air travel in terms of perception as well as reality, the more people are gonna be ready to get back in the air.”
White House says it's not looking to require COVID-19 tests before domestic flights https://t.co/zT2bvu1qSK
— MSN (@MSN) February 13, 2021
Here is more from Reuters:
The White House said on Friday it was not planning to require people to take COVID-19 tests before domestic airline flights after the prospect of new rules raised serious concerns among U.S. airlines, unions and some lawmakers.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a briefing on Friday that “reports that there is an intention to put in place new requirements, such as testing, are not accurate.”
Late on Friday, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, “at this time, CDC is not recommending required point of departure testing for domestic travel.” She added the CDC “will continue to review public health options for containing and mitigating spread of COVID-19 in the travel space.”
There was immediate pushback by some Republicans, including Senator Tom Cotton who blasted the idea that American citizens would be subjected to such restrictive measures while hordes of illegal aliens who will be pouring over the border wouldn’t be tested:
The Biden administration is allowing illegal immigrants into the U.S. without COVID testing.
Joe Biden's decision to dismantle immigration enforcement will make the pandemic worse. https://t.co/gF4KAAZdYH
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) February 8, 2021
Regardless of whether the tests would be mandated for air travelers, the Biden team has already moved to make travel as unpleasant as possible by requiring that masks be worn on all forms of public transportation
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