The U.S. Senate has passed a Republican Bill that would overturn President Joe Biden’s contentious Covid-19 vaccine mandate for private businesses. The vote took place on Wednesday, with members of Biden’s own party even turning against the President as two Democrats joined Republicans to back the initiative.
The 53-48 vote in favour of quashing the mandate means the legislation now makes its way to the Democrat-led House of Representatives, where it is expected to face an uphill challenge, while Biden has threatened to veto it.
If it is passed, the legislation would have the power to overturn administration rules forcing U.S. businesses with more than 100 workers to require mandatory vaccines or coronavirus testing for millions of employees. The measure was not subject to Senate rules that necessitate 60 of its 100 members to agree on most legislation, meaning it could pass with just a 51-vote simple majority. In a move which signalled discord among Biden’s party, two Senate Democrats – Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tesler of Montana – joined 50 Republicans in backing the Bill.
The proposal underscores the enormous political opposition standing in the way of the Biden administration’s attempt to enforce compulsory vaccinations in the workforce, an effort which has been blasted by opponents as a severe federal overreach. Tweeting following the vote, Republican U.S. Senator for Idaho Jim Risch welcomed the result, and said that the mandate “unfairly burdens our nation’s businesses” whilst also “endangering our individual liberties”.
My statement on today’s vote to overturn the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for private businesses: pic.twitter.com/RahI6gMEQ6
— Jim Risch (@SenatorRisch) December 9, 2021
One of the Democrat Senators who voted for the Bill, Joe Manchin, said that while he supported compulsory vaccination for federal employees and the military, he could not support it for private businesses.
“I have always supported a vaccine mandate for federal employees and the military because maintaining essential services and military readiness the federal government provides is a matter of national importance,” he said in a statement.
“However, I do not support any government vaccine mandate for private businesses. It is not the place of the federal government to tell private business owners how to protect their employees from COVID-19 and operate their businesses.
“We should incentivise, not penalise, private employers to encourage vaccination among their employees,” he added.
Republicans who threw their support behind the Bill said they had been inundated with calls from businesses with up to 500 staff members who were worried about being forced to sack employees who oppose Covid-19 vaccination and/or testing.
Republican Senator Mike Braun spearheaded the legislative push. Ahead of the Senate vote, he said: “It’s got Main Street America scared.”
Seeming to dismiss concerns from droves of business owners, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday that the vaccine mandate would impose no burden on employers because the vast majority of American adults are fully vaccinated. They also defended the mandate, noting that the rule exempts small businesses.
The statement is the latest indication of what has been described as the Biden administration’s perceived contempt for the unvaccinated. In a message to the nation which raised some eyebrows, Biden even told the unvaccinated that “our patience is wearing thin” as he implored them to take the vaccine, even if they had grounds not to.
Biden’s controversial private business mandate has already faced roadblocks, having been halted by a federal appeals court. A US judge in Georgia also blocked a Biden vaccine mandate aimed at federal contractors on Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer advocated for the mandate, saying that it was a way to solve the Covid-19 crisis. The top Democrat said in a speech: “We are in the middle of a public health crisis. Everyone sees the damage it causes. The way to solve this is to be driven by science.”
In direct contrast to those remarks, the chamber’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, dubbed the Biden mandate an “illegal” and “absurd” government effort to micromanage the lives of its citizens. Meanwhile, Republican Senator Rand Paul took to his Twitter platform to brand the vote “good news for doctors and nurses who valiantly took care of COVID patients, got COVID themselves, and who naturally decided not to get vaccinated since nature already inoculated them.”
Good news for the doctors and nurses who valiantly took care of COVID patients, got COVID themselves, and who logically decided not to get vaccinated since nature already inoculated them. https://t.co/e2IXJvCVsX
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 6, 2021
The GOP took the opportunity to point out Biden’s inconsistency on the subject of vaccine mandates, tweeting a video of the President saying last year that he didn’t believe vaccines should be made mandatory.
One year ago today, Joe Biden promised there would be no vaccine mandate.
He lied.pic.twitter.com/cSjIoeB5zJ
— GOP (@GOP) December 4, 2021
Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, also drew attention to Biden’s earlier comments on enforcing vaccine mandates, writing in a statement shared to his Twitter: “As president-elect, Biden said on vaccines, ‘I don’t think it should be mandatory, I wouldn’t demand it to be mandatory.’
“Yet, Biden and Fauci have flip-flopped and Americans are suffering. The Biden administration, Dr. Fauci and other federal bureaucrats are complicit in enacting divisive and pointless mandates that are Americans’ health autonomy and personal freedom.
“[…] To maintain their power and control, President Biden and the COVID gods want to keep us all in a state of fear.”
I voted to reject Biden’s vaccine mandate. Here’s why. pic.twitter.com/psOgyEO9So
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) December 9, 2021