> Senator Rand Paul just announced that he will force a Senate vote on repealing one of the federal government’s most idiotic remaining COVID-19 mandates. > The Kentucky Republican has gathered enough signatures from his colleagues to trigger a vote when the Senate returns to session on ending the federal government’s travel mask mandates that currently require passengers to wear masks on airplanes and other forms of public transportation. > “Since March 2020, unelected bureaucrats have incessantly declared that we should ‘follow the science,’” Paul said in a statement. “But the same bureaucrats continue to defy science by imposing an ineffective and restrictive mask mandate for individuals travelling on public transit and airplanes.” > “As the entire world is learning to live with COVID, the federal government still uses fear mongering to stubbornly perpetuate its mandates, rather than giving clear-eyed, rational advice on how to best protect yourself from illness,” the senator continued. “That is why I am forcing a vote to repeal travel mask mandates on public transportation and put a stop to this anti-science, nanny state requirement.” > Paul has introduced legislation in the past that would repeal the travel mandate.