Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-Wash.), a GOP leader on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, called for an end to mask mandates for children on Thursday, noting the negative influence these mandates have on children’s mental health and social development. McMorris Rogers’ statement comes after a coalition of 40 school district superintendents in eastern Washington signed a letter urging a “substantial relaxation” of mask mandates and other CCP virus measures. “Today’s hearing is long overdue,” McMorris Rogers said during her opening statement. “COVID has taken a toll, especially on our children. “Our kids are in crisis. A 2020 survey of 3,300 high schoolers found about one-third of them unhappy and depressed. “From March 2020 to October 2020, mental health related emergency department visits increased 24 percent for children ages 5 to 11 and 31 percent for those ages 12 to 17, and we have seen about a …