Two Dem. Senators Side with GOP to Kill Biden’s Vax Mandate
Two Democrat Senators, Joe Manchin (W Vir.) and Jon Tester (Mon.), have come out against Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates putting a crimp in Biden’s plans.
With the two Senators turning against Biden’s plans, after the 52-48 vote, the bill was returned to the House of Representatives on Wednesday but it isn’t likely that the bill will come up for discussion there during the remainder of the year, effectively killing Biden’s bill.
Biden’s latest power grab mandated that businesses of 100 workers or more must force all employees to be fully vaccinated, or subject them to weekly testing and mask wearing.
The mandate would have applied to 84 million workers at private businesses, about 31 million of whom are supposed to be unvaccinated.
The Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell (Ken.), called Biden’s mandate as an “illegal” and “absurd” government effort to micromanage the lives of private citizens.
“President Biden’s absurd private-sector vaccine mandate is a blatant overreach.” McConnell said this week. “The United States of America is a free country. The federal government elites in Washington cannot micromanage citizens’ personal choices without a legitimate basis in law and the Constitution.”
Manchin blasted the mandate as a massive overreach of federal power.
“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,” Manchin 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,” he said.
Sen. Tester agreed that Biden’s plan was unconstitutional.
“Over the past few months, I’ve repeatedly heard concerns from Montana’s small businesses and community leaders about the negative effect the private business vaccine mandate will have on their bottom lines and our state’s economy,” Tester wrote in his statement.
“That’s why I intend to join a bipartisan majority of my colleagues in defending Montana jobs and small businesses against these burdensome regulations. I strongly urge every eligible Montana to get vaccinates as soon as possible so we can end this pandemic once and for all.”
For now, Biden’s abuse of power has been stopped in its tracks.
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