Cruz introduces 7 bills to block government COVID mandates

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz introduced seven bills to block current and future federal government COVID mandates by taking aim at mask and vaccine requirements and other similar measures. 

"President Biden has stated that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, but he continues to wield powers granted during the pandemic, and he continues to desire draconian restrictions and mandates for the American people," Cruz said Tuesday. 

Cruz's bills include the No Vaccine Passports Act, the No Vaccine Mandates Act and the No Mask Mandates Act.

"We cannot allow the unprecedented actions taken by the federal government to set a new normal in which politicians and unelected bureaucrats force mandates upon the American people at the drop of a hat," Cruz said. 

He also introduced the GIVE LIFE Act, also known as Doss's Act, named after a teenager in his state who was denied a kidney transplant because he had not received the COVID vaccine. The bill would prohibit denying a person an organ transplant based on their COVID vaccination status. 

Another of Cruz's bills, the Ending Discrimination in COVID-19 Treatments Act, would mandate for the Department of Health and Human Services to not consider race, religion, sex, age or other factors when distributing COVID-19 treatments. The proposed legislation comes after the Food and Drug Administration issued guidance last year for doctors to consider "race or ethnicity" when rationing out monoclonal antibody treatments.

Cruz's other two bills focus on children, with one prohibiting groups that receive federal funds from imposing a COVID vaccine mandate on minor children while requiring parental consent for minor children to receive the COVID vaccine. The other bill specifically attempts to repeal Washington, D.C.'s public school COVID vaccine mandate.