Conservatives call for government shutdown to block Biden vaccine mandate

A growing chorus of conservatives is demanding that Senate Republicans shut down the government if President Joe Biden refuses to scrap the federal coronavirus vaccine mandate.

Such a gambit has proven to be political kryptonite, failing repeatedly under Democratic and Republican presidents and leaving the party in Congress that tried it battered and beaten. But history is not stopping conservative activists, lawmakers, and 2022 candidates opposed to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate from urging Republicans in the Senate to force a politically risky government shutdown just before Christmas in a long-shot attempt to derail a major component of Biden’s strategy to defeat the coronavirus.