Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Marco Rubio are criticizing the Biden administration for allegedly considering a ban on domestic travel in the state, calling the threat “unconstitutional” and a “political attack” on Florida residents.
The pair of Republican police officers responded to a report by the Miami Herald on Wednesday that the Biden government was launching a domestic ban allegedly to crack down on the highly contagious new variants of COVID-19 that are running across the country, including Florida.
“Any attempt at restraint by the federal government would be an attack on our state made solely for political purposes,” DeSantis told a news conference on Thursday.
The governor also said that the measure would be “unconstitutional” – which was corroborated by Rubio.
“So, now that they are considering real restrictions on Americans within the country, I think it is unconstitutional,” the Florida senator told Fox News on Thursday. “I think it will be successfully challenged in court.”
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters at a news conference on Thursday that “no decision has been made about additional public health measures that would change domestic travel.”
The Biden administration has also considered mandating COVID-19 tests for domestic travel – what Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg called an “appropriate measure”.
“I would say the CDC is examining all of its options, but, you know, there has to be common sense medicine, science really driving that,” he told CNN earlier this week.
“And what we do know is that it is an appropriate measure for international travel, people traveling to the USA, given some of these considerations. You know, I would say the domestic scenario is very different, but the CDC is always evaluating what can best be done to keep Americans safe. “