Sen Tom Cotton Says Teachers’ Facial Expressions Take Priority Over Public Health Interest

The Arkansas Republican made the argument in an interview with Fox News’ John Roberts about mask guidance

John Roberts and Sen. Tom Cotton on "America Reports"
Mediaite

Sen. Tom Cotton argued that public health officials are only concerned about public health interests on Friday’s “America Reports” with John Roberts on Fox News.

The Arkansas Republican argued that mask mandates and public health decisions should be left to elected officials rather than “bureaucrats.”

“Nobody elected the CDC,” Cotton said. “Nobody elected Tony Fauci to make these decisions. Advisers advise, elected officials decide… if you just turn these decisions over to a bunch of public health bureaucrats, of course the only thing they’re gonna consider is what they think is in the best interest of public health.”

The senator went on to claim that public officials won’t “balance off interests like whether people can make a living to put food on the table, or their kids can learn at school – an integral part of which is seeing each other’s faces and their teachers faces to understand emotion, to be able to see lips, and so forth.”

While avoiding the spread of one of the most infectious viruses in history sounds a bit more integral to learning than seeing teachers’ facial expressions or lips, Roberts went on to play a clip of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) speaking against the mandatory mask mandates for schoolchildren saying “We’re not doing that in Florida.”

Roberts asked Cotton if he thought it was the White House’s role to “[come] down on elected officials for not following the mask mandate, to which he, of course, replied “no.”

He continued: “And we’re not doing it in Arkansas either. Our legislature passed a law that prohibits any school from requiring anyone to wear masks. That’s exactly as it should be.”

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