Today, Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger introduced the Blocking Joseph Robinette Biden’s Overreaching Vaccine Mandates Act in the House of Representatives.
This bill prohibits the Federal Government from requiring private sector and Federal employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine against their will.
“The recent vaccine mandates by President Biden are nothing short of authoritarian government overreach that infringe upon our American civil liberties,” said Congresswoman Harshbarger. “The Biden administration has revealed that this isn’t about COVID-19, it’s about control. Americans have rightfully lost their trust in President Biden to provide accurate guidance when it comes to COVID-19 as he continues to put politics over science.
“I’m all for fighting COVID and keeping Americans healthy and safe, and we should use all scientific clinical tools and protections available. But authoritarian vaccine mandates and threatening jobs based on COVID vaccine status — that could have devastating impacts to our health care and first responder workforce and other parts of our economy — are not the answer. I have, and will always, take a strong stance against forced COVID vaccines and have previously introduced the No Vaccine Passports for Americans Act. Now, President Biden has made clear that he is not afraid to violate our constitutional rights to get what he wants. If Biden were serious about COVID-19 he would secure our southern border immediately. I am fighting to ensure that our civil liberties remain protected and that the Federal Government has no place in requiring COVID-19 vaccines.”
Original co-sponsors are U.S. Representatives Buddy Carter (GA-01), Bill Posey (FL-08), Yvette Herrell (NM-02), John Rutherford (FL-04), Ron Estes (KS-04), Jeff Duncan (SC-03), and Michael Guest (MS-03).
Background
On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced he will impose sweeping new national COVID vaccine mandates that are likely to face a number of legal challenges from governors, employers, unions and other stakeholder groups.
President Biden’s executive actions that are expected to take effect within the next several weeks would:
- Require an estimated 2 million federal employees and contractors — including remote workers — to be fully vaccinated, with no alternative option for periodic COVID testing, or they may face job termination;
- Require more than 50,000 health care facilities that accept Medicare or Medicaid funding to vaccinate their employees (about 17 million people nationwide), or risk losing federal funding.
- Through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA), require private employers with 100 or more employees to mandate that their workforce be vaccinated against Covid-19 or tested weekly for the virus. Should the Federal government find noncompliance with this mandate, employers could face massive punitive fines of up to $14,000 per violation.
Original source can be found here.
