GOP senator says ‘Europeans are a little more willing to submit to rules and laws that are malarkey’ than Americans are when it comes to masking

• The Senate is voting Tuesday on a resolution of disapproval for airplane mask mandates.
• While it’s unlikely to pass the House, Senate Republicans assailed the mandates at a press conference.
• Sen. Wicker made the comment about Europeans when asked about masking on international flights.

Speaking in support of ending mask mandates on airplanes, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said on Tuesday that Europeans are more willing to “submit” to “malarkey” rules than Americans are.

Wicker held a press conference alongside Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and James Lankford of Oklahoma in support of a joint resolution of disapproval sponsored by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky that would repeal the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) mask mandate on airplanes and public transportation. The TSA mandate was enacted by the Biden administration in January 2021 in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

A vote on the resolution is expected Tuesday evening, but even if it passes the Senate, it’s unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled House and make it to President Joe Biden’s desk. TSA recently extended the mandate until April 18.

—Senate Republicans (@SenateGOP) March 15, 2022

Asked by Associated Press reporter Farnoush Amiri whether mask mandates should apply on international flights, Wicker said that repealing the mandate in the US would cause other countries to follow suit.

“Well, I just got back from the Ukrainian border in Poland,” he said, adding he “had to wear a mask over eight hours on a flight back last night after seeing the war zone.”

Wicker traveled to Poland with three other senators over the weekend.

“I do think, obviously, Europe and Europeans are a little more willing to submit to rules and laws that are malarkey, but I think the international community would follow along,” he said, adding that he saw a “lessening” of mask wearing while visiting Ukrainian refugees in Europe.

Insider also asked Wicker, who declared that lifting the mask mandates on airplanes was long overdue, exactly when he thought the mandates should have been lifted.

Wicker pointed to April 2021 — before vaccines were widely available and before the deadly Delta and Omicron waves — as the appropriate time, citing testimony from a public health expert that noted that airplanes filter out 99% of the particles that cause the disease.

But that expert noted in that same testimony that the filtration should be utilized “in combination with face masks” and that declining to use both measures “will not provide the adequate protection required” to stop the spread of the disease.

“This has been a nonsensical rule at least for a year,” declared Wicker.

Wicker was diagnosed with COVID-19 twice over the last year, once during the Delta variant wave in August and again during the Omicron variant wave in February. He is fully vaccinated.

The Mississippi Republican also recently garnered criticism for declaring that Biden’s latest Supreme Court nominee would be the “beneficiary” of affirmative action, given the president’s pledge to nominate the first Black woman to the court.