By Brandon Moseley
The U.S. Senate voted to reject President Joseph R Biden’s (D) COVID-19 vaccine mandate for larger businesses. Senators Richard Shelby (R) and Tommy Tuberville (R) voted in favor of the resolution that needed only a simple majority to pass the Senate.
If passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution would provide fast-track procedures for Congress to consider a joint resolution to overturn OSHA’s rule requiring that all employers with one hundred employees or more require that their employees all be vaccinated.
The Senate voted 52 to 48 in favor of Senate Joint Resolution 29. Democratic Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.) and Joe Manchin (W. Va.) voted with the Republicans to give the resolution enough support to be sent to the U.S. House of Representatives.
“As I’ve said before, President Biden’s vaccine mandate violates our constitutional liberties and is federal overreach at its finest,” Shelby released in a statement. “Today I was proud to vote for Senator Braun’s CRA to overturn that mandate. While I urge people to consult with their doctor about getting vaccinated, I believe our individual freedoms and rights are of the utmost importance.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N. Y.) opposed the GOP resolution.
Schumer said that the resolution was a “Senate GOP plan to push an anti-vaccine proposal to overturn President Joe Biden's vaccine requirements for businesses.
“No. We're in the middle of a health crisis,” Schumer said. “We can't take away critical tools that can help us end the pandemic, but that’s what the GOP proposal would do.”
The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives is not likely to pass the Republican resolution.
In September, Biden passed a series of executive orders mandating that all members of the military, employees of federal contractors, and employees of healthcare providers that receive Medicare and Medicaid dollars all be vaccinated against COVID-19. Biden also wrote an executive order requiring that OSHA write the rule for large businesses. Millions of American workers are facing possible termination if they do not comply and get the vaccine.
The mandates are being challenged in federal court by Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) and other Republican attorneys general. Thus far, the courts have been receptive to the argument that Biden exceeded his constitutional authority.
Federal healthcare authorities maintain that vaccination of the global population is the only way that we will move past the COVID-19 global pandemic. The vaccine is being provided to every resident of the U.S. free of charge and is available at most drug stores and hospitals as well as many medical clinics.
Sens. Tuberville and Shelby maintain that Americans have a constitutional right to make their own medical decisions and not be dictated to by Presidents.
