Mike Lee: Senate Republicans Could Defund Biden’s Vaccine Mandates

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said Thursday that Senate Republicans have a “very real” chance of defunding President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates if Republicans stay for the vote.

Lee and Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Mike Braun (R-IN), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Ted Cruz (R-TX) are leading the fight to defund Biden’s vaccine mandates. The conservatives said they would not expedite the passage of a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government without a roll call vote on an amendment that defunds the enforcement of the remaining vaccine mandates.

Lee said, “@SenateGOP has a very real chance of defunding @POTUS’s remaining vaccine mandates IF every Republican stays for the vote.”

Cruz echoed Lee’s sentiment:

The Supreme Court blocked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration vaccine mandate for large employers; however, the federal government can still enforce the other four mandates, which include the mandates on medical workers, military personnel, federal employees, and federal contractors.

There remains ample opportunity for Senate Republicans to defund the vaccine mandate, and their efforts could even receive Democrat support. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Jon Tester (D-MT) voted in December for a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to defund the private employer vaccine mandate.

Conservative organizations across the political spectrum urged senators to back the amendment to defund the vaccine mandates.

Americans for Limited Government President Richard Manning said in a statement on Thursday:

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) will be offering an amendment to the government funding continuing resolution this afternoon which would defund the vaccine mandates.  This is an important amendment which should pass overwhelmingly as Republican and Democrat state and local leaders, including the Mayor of Washington, D.C., have lifted these mandates at the local levels.  It is absurd to leave inflexible federal government strictures in place. It is time for the Senate to defund their enforcement of unconstitutional vaccine mandates.  Americans for Limited Government launched a campaign a week ago, which resulted in 24.3 million emails being delivered to Congress demanding lawmakers defund the mandates. It is time for Congress to assert their Article One Constitutional powers to do so now.

Americans for Limited Government urges Senators to support Sen. Lee’s actions to take these regulatory yokes off the necks of the American people today by voting to amend H.R. 6617 and sending it back to the House of Representatives for passage.

Heritage Action executive director Jessica Anderson said in a statement on Thursday:

Conservatives should support any and all efforts to protect healthcare workers and defense personnel, some of our nation’s most dedicated servants, from the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandates.

One of the strongest efforts is the push from Sens. Lee, Marshall, Lummis, Braun, Paul, and Cruz to vote on an amendment to the upcoming continuing resolution (CR) to prevent government bureaucrats from hijacking current funding to fire employees for their medical choices. This amendment would protect the servicemembers, nurses, doctors, and critical employees who simply want to serve their country without having to subject themselves to an unwanted medical procedure.

Conservatives should not lose sight of the fact that Congress is moving forward on an omnibus spending package that would earmark even more funds to vaccine mandates, in addition to adding far-Left policies and stripping Trump-era conservative policies.

Anderson added, “A Democrat-led omnibus is a worst-case scenario. Conservatives should work to pass a long-term CR.”

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.