The White House announced Tuesday that President Joe Biden would veto legislation that would nullify the president’s coronavirus mandate, even if some Senate Democrats voted for it.
“If it comes to the President’s desk, he will veto it,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during the daily press briefing.
Reporters asked Psaki about Democrat support for the effort, including vocal support from Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Joe Manchin (D-WV).
Psaki described supporters of the measure as members of the “anti-vaccine” crowd, who should be stopped.
“We certainly hope the Senate — Congress — will stand up to the anti-vaccine and testing crowd, and we’re going to continue to work to implement these,” she replied.
The Senate is expected to vote on a fast-track resolution using the Congressional Review Act, sponsored by Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), to disapprove of Biden’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule requiring all businesses over 100 employees to level a vaccine mandate or regular testing.
“I got to believe a few of them [Democrats] are going to say, ‘Wait. Do I want to buy into more of this craziness, or do I want to get reelected?’” Braun told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview. “So it’ll put them all on record.”
Tester said he supported blocking the vaccine mandate because of feedback he got from the business community.
“Over the past few months, I’ve repeatedly heard concerns from Montana’s small business and community leaders about the negative effect the private business vaccine mandate will have on their bottom lines and our state’s economy,” he said in a statement announcing his support for the resolution.
Manchin also cited the burden on business as a reason why he supported the Republican effort.
“Let me be clear, I do not support any government vaccine mandate on private businesses,” Manchin said in a statement. “That’s why I have cosponsored and will strongly support a bill to overturn the federal government vaccine mandate for private businesses.”
Legal losses for Biden’s mandate continue piling up in the courts.
A federal judge on Tuesday halted Biden attempt to mandate the coronavirus vaccine for federal contractors.
Last week, a federal judge halted the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from enforcing a coronavirus vaccine mandate for health care workers.