Bernie Sanders Reintroduces Bill To Send Free N95 Masks To All Americans

But as the highly transmissible omicron variant continues to spread, Sanders urged lawmakers to use this second opportunity to arm all Americans with better protective gear.“It is an absolute scandal that in the richest country in the history of the world, high-quality masks are not more readily available to frontline workers, health care workers, and all Americans,” Sanders said in a statement on Wednesday.More than 50 congressional Democrats are backing the bill, Sanders’ office said.Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is co-sponsoring the House version of the bill, echoed Sanders, saying Congress must prioritize this type of spending.“If we can afford a $778 billion defense budget, we can afford to send N95 masks to every American to keep people safe as Omicron cases spike,” he wrote in a statement.The Masks for All Act would appropriate $5 billion for the domestic manufacturing, procurement and distribution of N95 masks, which filter out at least 95% of airborne particles.