Republicans Introduce Bill to End COVID Vaccine Mandate for Truckers Crossing US-Canada Border

A trucker waits at the Canada Customs booth in Sarnia, Ontario, on March 16, 2020. Geoff Robins/AFP via Getty Images

A group of Republican senators on Feb. 15 introduced a bill to end the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for international travelers, which they say is disrupting the flow of goods at the U.S.-Canada border by blocking unvaccinated truckers.

The legislation (pdf), called the “Travel Freedom Act,” is sponsored by Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.). It specifically targets air travel vaccination requirements for non-immigrant foreigners set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as the vaccination requirements from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for land and ferry travels between the United States and Canada.

If passed, the bill will prohibit any federal funding from being used to enforce those vaccine mandates. On top of that, the DHS in the future may not demand foreigners to show proof of COVID–19 vaccination as a condition on entering the United States, unless otherwise approved by Congress.

“Millions of individuals, including many involved in the North American supply chain, need to legally travel in and out of the United States on a regular basis for their jobs,” Marshall said in a release, calling the COVID vaccine requirement an “unnecessary headache” for commuter workers having to cross the U.S.-Canada border from time to time.

“Our legislation puts an end to this madness and reopens the United States for business to all individuals, regardless of their vaccination status,” he said.

The bill specifically addresses vaccine mandates for those traveling between the United States and Canada. It’s not expected to affect those seeking to legally enter the country from Mexico.

The proposal comes as American and Canadian truck driver groups call on the Biden administration to lift the vaccine mandate as soon as possible.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), in alliance with the American Trucking Associations (ATA), last week wrote to U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen, requesting support in removing the COVID-19 entry restrictions.

In September 2022, the Canadian government removed “all COVID-19 entry restrictions, as well as testing, quarantine, and isolation requirements for anyone entering Canada.” The CTA wants the U.S. government, which is set to end the COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11, 2023, to follow suit.

“Once the announcement of the removal of these COVID-19 emergencies was made, there was optimism that the U.S. border vaccine restrictions would also be removed at this time,” CTA official Lak Shoan told online news site FreightWaves. “So far, we don’t have any confirmation about whether this will occur or not.”

Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), a trade association representing 150,000 commercial drivers in all 50 U.S. states and Canada, also asked President Joe Biden to end the mandate.

“There is no evidence that truckers present a higher risk of spreading the virus,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer wrote in a letter to Biden last year.

“Moreover, there is no evidence that truckers have been the source of any coronavirus outbreaks within the United States, suggesting that the cross-border mandate is likely to be having little, if any, effect.

“Even for drivers who may be in compliance, the continuance of the mandate is just another piece of government red tape for which they have to manage additional paperwork and possible delays,” he argued.