The Senate will vote on a resolution to repeal President Biden’s mandate to vaccine private companies. GOP members and one Dem oppose the rule requiring vaccinations or inconvenient testing for large-scale workers.
The challenge to the vaccine mandate under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) was supported by all 50 Senate Republicans led by Senator Mike Braun. It allows Congress through a resolution passed by each chamber to officially disapprove an executive branch regulation.
Senator Joe Manchin stated that he supports the Braun resolution and does not support any mandate for private vaccinations. The bill would have repealed both public and private vaccine mandates.
GOP members believe Sen. Kyrsten Silena (D-Ariz.), may support the Braun resolution. In a recent interview, she declined to confirm that she would vote for it. Senator Steve Daines is pushing Sen. Jon Tester to join efforts to block every Biden mandate. Braun’s resolution needs only a simple majority in order to pass the Senate. This means that it is likely to succeed. Rep. Fred Keller is leading companion legislation in Congress, with 206 cosponsors.
Kevin McCarthy told reporters that the challenge is how you bring it up on a floor. He said they are not part of the majority and don’t control it.
The CRA has a flaw in that disapproval resolutions under the Congressional Review Act are subject to a presidential veto. This means that the president who abuses his executive powers as President Biden has with these mandates is likely to veto.”
Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary, stated that the White House believes Biden’s mandate to provide vaccines for private companies is based on a fifty-year-old law that Congress passed.
GOP members will not relent on the issue because Biden’s vaccine mandates face many challenges in federal court. They stated that they intend to raise amendments defunding vaccine mandates in any future voting-a-rama. This will be a problem for Dems if they do not move their reconciliation spending bill as scheduled.
Republicans could threaten to block funding for the government and cause a shutdown in February if the current continuing resolution expires.
James Wallner, R Street Institute senior fellow for governance, said that any future legislative efforts to repeal vaccine mandates will not have any effect. Wallner stated that whatever happens now or in the next year will be planned.Â
Wallner said you will see votes in the Senate, which create the illusion that something, such as a ban on vaccines, could pass before you actually see a policy like that pass. He said that they’ll place like 60-vote thresholds upon them, they will structure the process. If they are unable to block the vote completely, they will create a process in which you lose your vote.
