Biden Stops Short of Supporting National Mask Mandate, Says He Will Enforce Masks on ‘Federal Property’

by Andrew Trunsky

 

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Thursday night that he would not have the authority to mandate masks nationwide if elected president, but said that he would enforce a mandate on “federal property.”

Biden’s comment came during a CNN town hall in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and departed from his previous statements saying that he would issue a nationwide mask mandate if elected president, The New York Times reported.

“I cannot mandate wearing masks,” but “I can do that on federal property,” he said. “As president, I will do that. On federal land, I would have the authority, If you’re on federal land, you must wear a mask. And we could have a fine for them not doing it.”

Earlier this week, he told reporters that he thought that he would have the authority to issue a mask mandate “based upon the degree to which there’s a crisis in those states, and how bad things are for the country and if we don’t do it, what happens.”

Biden originally called for a nationwide mask mandate in August, asserting that Americans should wear one at all times when outside for a three-month period at minimum. President Donald Trump has resisted a nationwide mask mandate, saying that one would intrude on Americans’ individual freedoms.

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Andrew Trunsky is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Joe Biden” by Gage Skidmore CC2.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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