On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said that if he thought shutting down the government would eliminate the federal vaccine mandate, he would join with Senate Republicans who are pushing to defund the mandate through the government funding bill, but a government shutdown won’t eliminate the mandate and that the mandate is currently shut down by the courts, and the Senate will vote on the mandate.
Kennedy said, [relevant remarks begin around 4:00] “[I]f I thought that shutting down government was going to get rid of the mandate, I would join with them. But it’s not. It’s just not. And in fact, the mandate, right now, is already shut down. We’ve litigated it and a number of federal judges have enjoined the mandate. And we’re going to have a vote next week on the mandate on the Senate floor up or down. I just hate to see us shut down government and scare people half to death when the Biden administration is already trying to scare them half to death with this new variant for political reasons. I just hate to see a shut-down government and scare them some more.”
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