{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://moolenaar.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/biden-forces-toddlers-wear-masks-after-declaring-pandemic-over", "Biden Forces Toddlers to Wear Masks After Declaring the Pandemic Over", "2022-09-19", "2022", "2022-09", "Republican", "House", "MI", "John R. Moolenaar", "M001194", "moolenaar.house.gov", "moolenaar", "https://moolenaar.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "In an interview with 60 Minutes that aired last night, President Biden declared, \"the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one is wearing masks.\" However, at the very same time, Biden\u2019s administration is still forcing toddlers in the federal Head Start program to wear masks.\n\n\"President Biden has declared the pandemic over, but he is still forcing kids as young as two-years old to wear masks. His hypocrisy hurts the development of young children and I have repeatedly called for Biden to end this policy. Biden\u2019s policies have created a crisis for families who rely on Head Start and I will continue to fight for the rights of parents and students to be treated fairly,\u201d said Congressman John Moolenaar.\n\nOn September 7, The New York Times reported that Biden\u2019s disastrous policies have resulted in Head Start staffing shortages and a decline in Head Start enrollment. The Times wrote, \u201cA May survey of the National Head Start Association\u2019s members found that the average center had 30 percent of its staff positions unfilled. Last year, about 745,000 children and babies were enrolled in Head Start and Early Head Start, down from 970,000 before the pandemic, according to federal data compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.\u201d\n\nIn the same article, Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Start Association, said \u201cHead Start programs have been short-circuited. This mandate on masking and vaccines has hurt a lot of programs. It is more of a crisis that is now feeling like a looming catastrophe.\u201d\n\nEarlier this year, Congressman Moolenaar expressed his support for Saginaw Intermediate School District\u2019s federal lawsuit to repeal the vaccine mandate. Later that spring, he called for the end the Head Start mask mandate in a letter to President Biden. Moolenaar also called for a vote in the House to repeal the toddler mask mandate after the U.S. Senate passed bipartisan legislation to revoke it.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:08:33Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://moolenaar.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/biden-forces-toddlers-wear-masks-after-declaring-pandemic-over"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8678298909217119, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}