Republican Senators Threaten To Defund Biden’s Vaccine Mandate

November 6, 2021 68,253

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OPINION: This article contains commentary which reflects the author's opinion

Joe Biden’s federal vaccine mandate is about to hit an iceberg that could sink its effectiveness.
A group of Republican senators led by Maryland Sen. Roger Marshall sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader and New York Sen. Charles Schumer vowing to block any funding of the mandate.
“On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced plans to impose a sweeping COVID-19 vaccine mandate that, while ostensibly targeting America’s employers, will hurt workers. Using the threat of crippling fines, the president’s mandate would compel all private employers with at least 100 employees to take action against workers who decline to be vaccinated. This is wrong—morally, legally, and constitutionally. Accordingly, we will oppose all efforts to implement and enforce it with every tool at our disposal, including our votes on spending measures considered by the Senate,” the letter said.
“To be sure, we agree that countless Americans have benefitted from the protection offered by the COVID-19 vaccines. Nevertheless, the decision whether to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is a highly personal one that should never be forced upon individuals by the federal government. President Biden has chosen to disregard the personal autonomy of free citizens. Some choose not to be vaccinated because of sincere religious beliefs, others because of unique and potentially serious medical conditions. Others have fully recovered from a previous COVID-19 infection and feel adequately protected by natural immunity, which according to some studies is 27 times stronger than immunity derived from a vaccine. But regardless of their reasons, those who choose not to receive the jab deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, especially by their own government. People in any civilized nation should expect nothing less,” the senators said.
“President Biden is waging a cruel campaign to punish unvaccinated Americans—depriving them of their ability to provide for their families. This is nothing short of immoral. There are so many humane ways to defeat this virus. Depriving law-abiding citizens of their livelihood must not be included among them,” the group said.
“This punishment is not simply reserved for those who – for their own good reasons – decline to get the jab. President Biden’s mandate will punish everyone by crippling our nation. As companies and state and local governments begin to fall in line behind President Biden’s proclamation, issuing their own mandates to ensure their compliance, the societal consequences of these mandates are starting to manifest as examples of what is to come,” the letter said.
It went on to cite examples like the crime ridden city of Chicago potentiall losing a third of its police force, New York City possibly losing 33 percent of its firefighters, the United States having 400,000 troops who are unvaccinated, and trucking companies possibly losing 33 percent of their workforce as a supply chain issue still effects the nation.
“If the vaccine mandate is allowed to be fully implemented, the result could be catastrophic. Many Americans who have decided to not comply with the vaccine mandate will not suddenly accept coercion. That is their God given right. Any attempt to blame this impending catastrophe on those choosing not to take the jab would be severely misplaced,” the senators said.
“President Biden chose to employ unnecessarily coercive methods. President Biden made a bet that he could force people to comply with his edicts by threatening their livelihoods. He was so sure of his winning hand that he wagered the machinery that allows our nation to function. When he loses that bet the blame will be fully his. It is wrong to gamble with people’s livelihoods. It is unwise to bet that Americans will cave to petty tyranny,” they said.
The senators argued that the president does not have the Constitutional authority to employ the “breathtakingly vindictive and unprecedented action.”
But the Constitution does give the legislative branch the power to decide what will be funded, and that is where these senators have vowed to stop the president’s madness.
“To that end, please be advised (many weeks in advance of the current spending period, which ends on December 3, 2021) that we will not support—and will use all means at our disposal to oppose—legislation that funds or in any way enables the enforcement of President Biden’s employer vaccine mandate. Nor will we vote for or support cloture on any continuing resolution in the absence of language protecting Americans from this action.”

Republican Senators Threaten To Defund Biden's Vaccine Mandate - Conservative Brief