PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As Pennsylvania lawmakers returned to Harrisburg after their summer break, Republicans in the state legislature took aim at the Wolf administration's mask mandate.
Republicans like House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre, Mifflin counties) maintained that local decision makers are best served making local decisions, like masks in schools.
“That same control that was working before and reflected the needs of the local values prior to the statewide mandate," said Benninghoff.
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"Those who are reaching out to our offices in large numbers deserve to know that their voices are being heard here in Harrisburg as well.”
“From the very beginning, March, when this all started in terms of the original emergency order, you're looking at the caucus who has consistently said local control, not centralized control is the best," House Speaker Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster County) said.
Democratic State Representative Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery County) said the legislature should be investing in education, getting businesses back on track after Hurricane Ida's remnants struck the Delaware Valley, while chosing the best way to spend the remaining federal COVID-19 money.
“But now, that's not what we're going to do today," Bradford said. "We're going to talk about an election that was lost. We're going to talk about a pandemic that they don't want to confront.”
Representative Mike Schlossberg (D-Lehigh County) said masks are needed to protect the most vulnerable, and they’re an important tool to prevent COVID-19 spread and to help keep schools open.
“The truth is that this debate would be comedic if it wasn't so damn dangerous," he said.
"A-year-and-a-half into a pandemic that has taken more than [675,000] American lives from us, we are actually having a debate about whether or not a thin piece of cloth over your nose is an inconvenience worth enduring in order to save lives.”
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The legislature will have to extend emergency declarations for Hurricane Ida and the opioid epidemic. They’re talking about extending regulatory code suspensions, to continue to allow things like telehealth.
There is also a bipartisan election reform bill in the state Senate introduced by Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) and Republican David Argall (R-Berks, Schuylkill Counties).
As they promised, Senate Democrats filed a court challenge to the GOP’s subpoenas of the Pennsylvania Department of State regarding last year’s election.
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