By Brandon Moseley
Saturday, Congressman and U.S. candidate Mo Brooks (R-AL05) promised voters and constituents that he “will fight for your liberty and freedom” in reference to the COVID-19 vaccine mandates that the Biden Administration is imposing using broad powers as the nation’s chief executive.
President Joe Biden has ordered every American who serves in the U.S. Military, works for the U.S. government, works for a U.S. government contractor, works in a nursing home, works in a hospital, or works for any healthcare provider that accepts Medicaid and Medicare to get the COVID-19 vaccine – even though the vaccine has only been commercially available for 10 months. He also ordered the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to force employers with over 100 employees to mandate vaccination of all of their employees or face heavy fines.
Brooks explained on social media, “Citizens have inundated my office with their concerns about Joe Biden’s overreaching COVID-19 vaccine mandate. I say to them, I will fight for your liberty and freedom from dictatorial government oppression with every fiber of my being and every tool at my disposal.
“Joe Biden claims the US Constitution empowers a president to mandate vaccines,” Brooks continued. “He is wrong. I challenge anyone to identify a provision in the U.S. Constitution that unambiguously gives Joe Biden or the federal government the authority he arrogantly claims.”
Like Brooks, Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-AL04) also opposes Biden’s vaccine mandates.
Congressman Robert Aderholt released the following statement on President Biden’s plans for vaccine mandates.
“While I am certainly not anti-vaccine, in fact, I have been fully vaccinated, I don’t believe the federal government should be forcing employees and contractors of the executive branch to be vaccinated,” Aderholt said in a statement. “And I fail to find anywhere in the U.S. Constitution, or in powers granted to the executive branch by Congress, any authority to mandate that private companies require their employees to be vaccinated. I expect this mandate to be stopped very quickly by the courts.
“These mandates are yet another example of President Biden taking away individual freedoms with the stroke of a pen,” Aderholt added. “Getting the vaccine should be a personal decision. As my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are fond of saying, ‘my body, my choice.”
The President’s ability to enforce his mandates on the private sector is likely to be challenged in court by state attorneys general, but what happens in federal court is outside of the realm of Congress.
Mo Brooks is a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), who is not seeking a seventh term. Brooks faces a crowded Republican primary field that includes: businesswoman Jessica Fair Taylor, former Ambassador to Slovenia Lynda Blanchard, and former Business Council of Alabama President and CEO Katie Boyd Britt. Former Brighton Mayor Brandaun Dean is running as a Democrat.
The Republican primary is May 24, 2022.
