{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hoeven.senate.gov/news/news-releases/hoeven-presses-administration-to-end-head-start-covid-mandates", "Hoeven Presses Administration to End Head Start Covid Mandates", "2022-09-16", "2022", "2022-09", "Republican", "Senate", "ND", "John Hoeven", "H001061", "www.hoeven.senate.gov", "hoeven", "https://www.hoeven.senate.gov/news/news-releases", "scraper", "Hoeven Presses Administration to End Head Start Covid Mandates\n\nWASHINGTON \u2013 Senator John Hoeven this week sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra pressing the administration to rescind its one-size-fits-all mask and COVID-19 vaccine mandates on Head Start programs. Despite a court injunction, HHS still has in place an interim final rule (IFR) requiring Head Start staff and volunteers to be vaccinated and all staff, volunteers and children age two and older to wear masks, including when they are outside.\n\n\u201cWhile there remains a preliminary injunction against the IFR in multiple states \u2013 including North Dakota \u2013 uncertainty remains for many Head Start providers, parents, and children. Therefore, I once again urge you to immediately rescind the IFR so that families can have access to the important early childhood development and child care services offered through Head Start,\u201d wrote Hoeven.\n\nThe senator outlined staffing challenges facing Head Start providers due to the mandates and the uncertainty caused by the one-size-fits-all rule. Today\u2019s letter continues Hoeven\u2019s efforts to end overreaching COVID mandates. Earlier this year, Hoeven joined Senator John Thune in introducing a resolution to nullify HHS\u2019s vaccine and mask mandates for Head Start programs. The resolution was approved on a bipartisan basis by the Senate in May.\n\nThe full text of the letter can be found here.\n\n-###-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:29:59Z"]], "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://www.hoeven.senate.gov/news/news-releases/hoeven-presses-administration-to-end-head-start-covid-mandates"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.366088166832924, "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"}