Lawmakers press DHS officials on H1N1 flu response

A furor on Capitol Hill is the result of a decision by the Homeland Security Department to prohibit border security workers from wearing protective masks during...

A furor on Capitol Hill is the result of a decision by the Homeland Security Department to prohibit border security workers from wearing protective masks during the recent H1N1 virus scare.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, the Postal Service and the District of Columbia asked a panel of witnesses about the prohibition.

FederalNewsRadio’s Jason Miller reports that subcommittee chairman Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) spent most of the hearing questioning Elaine Duke, DHS’s undersecretary for management, about the department’s rationale for not letting transportation and border security workers voluntarily wear protective masks if they so desired.

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