Providing for Consideration of H.R. Postal Service Reform Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mrs. HINSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to stand for students, to stand for parents' ability to make decisions for their own kids. Across the country, children are struggling. Despite being nearly 2 years into the pandemic now, tens of thousands of students started this year off still being forced to learn from behind a screen, cut off from their peers.

Many school districts are mandating masks for children of all ages against their parents' wishes. Parents should have the option to send their kids to school in person and to decide whether or not they want to have their kids wearing a mask at school. Thanks to the leadership of our great Governor of Iowa, Governor Reynolds, and our hardworking teachers in Iowa, parents have had the option to send their kids to school in person in class for over a year.

Governor Reynolds stood for families by banning school mask mandates and allowing parents--parents--to make this personal health decision for their own children. That is at the heart of this issue we are talking about today. Parents should be empowered. They should be empowered to make choices that impact their children's physical and mental health, their development, and their future.

As a mom, I know why parents across the country are standing up and speaking out when they are being told that they can't decide what is right for their kids or their family. And it is infuriating to watch the very same people who push for kids to wear masks all day long, and they are bending the rules for a photo op or maybe a night out on the town. Meanwhile, kids are sitting at home instead of going to school, and they are interacting with their friends in settings that are not normal. They are interacting from behind a screen. That is why I introduced the Unmask Our Kids Act.

My bill would condition Federal education dollars to schools on those schools doing two very simple things: one, schools cannot receive Federal dollars if they enact wide-reaching mask mandates. They have to allow parents to decide whether their child will wear a mask at school; and two, parents have to have an in-person learning option. Schools must offer an in-person learning option. Our kids deserve normalcy. They deserve a chance to learn in person. They deserve a chance to play with their friends at recess.

This is about giving parents a voice and the final say when it comes to personal health decisions that impact their family. This is about giving school-aged kids who have endured so much over the last 2 years a chance to finally just be kids, to be normal. The next generation is too important not to fight for.

When it comes to our children and their well-being, we will not cave, and that is why this legislation is so important. So let's put politics aside here. Let's put kids first. We should pass the Unmask Our Kids Act today.

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