A coalition of 49 Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate have announced that they'll oppose funding for the enforcement of all of President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates this month.
“After February 18, 2022, government funding will expire and congressional Republicans must once again decide whether they will vote to fund a federal government that is enforcing tyrannical COVID-19 vaccine mandates on the American people,” the coalition wrote. “The Biden administration has unilaterally imposed five separate COVID-19 vaccine mandates.”
Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine dictates, announced in September 2021, originally would have forced as many as 100 million Americans to get vaccinated against the virus, despite a lack of long-term research on its side effects.
The most controversial of these diktats was a private-sector mandate that would have required privately owned businesses with 100 or more employees to mandate either COVID-19 vaccination or weekly testing. After a series of legal challenges by state attorneys general, business leaders, and federal courts, the Supreme Court struck down the private sector mandate in a 6–3 decision.
However, other mandates have remained in effect.
Despite striking down the private sector mandate, the Supreme Court upheld a vaccine mandate for health care workers. Biden’s wide-reaching mandates also still require federal employees and military servicemen and women to receive COVID-19 vaccination. In comparison to the private-sector mandate, these mandates have faced significantly fewer legal challenges.
Now, the 49-strong Republican coalition has announced their opposition to all of Biden’s remaining vaccine mandates.
“Medical workers, men and women in uniform, federal employees, and federal contractors could face termination if they do not receive a COVID-19 vaccine, even though evidence shows these vaccines do not prevent the spread of the virus,” the letter reads.
The Republican coalition is also looking to challenge vaccine mandates imposed by municipalities and state governments that receive federal funding.
Washington, over which Congress retains the constitutional right to “exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever,” imposed a vaccine mandate recently, barring citizens from entering establishments without proof of vaccination. The letter’s signatories make clear that ending the dictates in “the American people’s capital city” is particularly important.
“Congressional Republicans cannot continue to abdicate their Article I duties in hopes the judicial branch will rule in favor of the American people,” the letter reads. “We the undersigned refuse to consider supporting any federal government funding vehicle, be it a continuing resolution or an omnibus appropriations measure, that funds the enforcement of COVID-19 vaccine mandates at any level of government.”
Several senators, including Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Mike Lee (R-Utah), signed the declaration.
The letter demonstrates a significant change in attitude among Republicans on several fronts.
For almost a year, the White House and the federal government have insisted that the CCP virus vaccine is “safe and effective,” even as study after study showed that it may be less safe and less effective than Americans were led to believe. Still, in the past, several Republicans have recommended that Americans receive the vaccine, although they also maintained that citizens should be free to choose.
Biden’s health, military, and federal worker vaccine mandates, while controversial, also have received significantly less criticism from lawmakers than the private-sector mandate received. The Feb. 2 letter shows that the other vaccine mandates are becoming increasingly controversial among Republican lawmakers.
The Republican signatories are also setting their sights on local- and state-imposed vaccine mandates, some of which have left the unvaccinated thoroughly ostracized for their skepticism. This is also a significant policy shift for Republicans who, while critical of the mandates, have made no effort to target them by withholding federal funds.
Even with its wide swath of support among Republican lawmakers, this effort to kill any federal funding measure that makes vaccine mandates possible will need to gain more traction if it’s to succeed.
In the House, the 45 Republican signatories simply don’t have the votes to stop a piece of legislation. Even if every Republican signed onto the effort, it’s likely that Democrats—who have marched in lockstep with Biden’s CCP virus policy—would vote unanimously to advance the measure. Given their slight majority, stopping vaccine mandate funding in the House would require a handful of defections by Democrats.
The effort has a higher chance of success in the Senate, but this would also require that several more Republican senators sign onto the plan. In total, 41 senators would need to be on board with the proposal to deny the 60-vote threshold to end debate on a measure. At the moment, only four have signed on.
