GOP Rep. Chip Roy is calling on Republicans to refrain from backing a government funding bill, opposing all such measures as long as COVID-19 vaccine mandates remain in place.
The Texas conservative is circulating a letter to members of the GOP conference, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, encouraging them to sign on to his efforts. Roy has been vocal in his criticisms of vaccine mandates placed on essential workers, arguing that the requirement is unconstitutional.
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“While President Biden announced at the State of the Union that ‘COVID-19 need no longer control our lives,’ thousands of Americans across the nation are still without work or facing termination for choosing not to accept mandatory vaccination. This is wrong,” the letter says.
“At least with respect to the CMS mandates on healthcare workers, 49 Republican Senators voted this week to disapprove of the administration’s actions,” the letter continues. “But so far, Congress has not leveraged the full ‘power of the purse’ to end the COVID-19 vaccine mandates that continue to harm tens of thousands of Americans — most notably our medical workers, military personnel, and federal workers such as Border Patrol.”
Lawmakers have until March 11 to pass legislation to avert a government shutdown, with negotiators discussing also linking additional funding for Ukraine and pandemic relief funding to the measure.
Roy noted that Congress has passed multiple stopgap measures with broad bipartisan support but asserted that he does not think members that have voiced opposition to the mandates should vote in favor of any funding bill that doesn’t prevent federal dollars from being used to enforce the policy.
“Congress has passed three continuing resolutions (CRs) since President Biden announced his plan to unilaterally impose COVID-19 vaccine mandates on Americans. Each of these CRs passed with Republican support. With another government funding deadline approaching on March 11, we urge you to take every step possible to defund these mandates once and for all,” he wrote.
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“While some will say the escalating situation in Ukraine justifies ignoring the tyranny of vaccine mandates to ensure funding of defense, the fact is Americans — including our troops — continue to suffer,” he continued. “It is particularly troubling for the President to ask thousands of those troops to amass in eastern Europe while simultaneously finger-wagging at them to get a politicized vaccine or be fired. We the undersigned support individuals’ right to healthcare freedom and will oppose any federal government funding measure that funds the enforcement of COVID-19 vaccine mandates.”
While the Supreme Court struck down a vaccine-or-test rule for companies with at least 100 employees in January, some mandates are still in effect for federal employees, the military, federal contractors, and some medical workers.
