WASHINGTON, DC, Nov 9 -- The COVID pandemic is a nonpartisan threat to life and, it turns out that resistance to President Biden's strong-arm vaccine command also crosses party lines. In fact, 26 states, the majority of which are Republican, have filed lawsuits against his administration's attempt to force America's workforce to be vaccinated against the coronavirus by January 4, 2022.
Alternatively, workers may choose to get tested for the disease on a weekly basis but doesn't say who will pay for those tests. Apparently, either the companies or the employees themselves would have to shoulder that financial burden.
The president's order covers companies with 100 or more workers, but over the weekend, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy would not rule out forcing smaller businesses to adhere to the mandate, as well.
At least one state, Florida, has decided to pass a law that might supplant President Biden’s mandate directive. Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Monday that he will be calling a special session of Florida’s legislature to enact a law that prohibits vaccine mandates to be implemented by businesses in his state.
Also, over the weekend, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a ruling temporarily blocking the mandate. Its decree states that "Because the petitions give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the mandate, the mandate is hereby stayed pending further action by this court." Of course, the administration will challenge that ruling. But President Biden jumped the gun and doubled down on his mandate and dismissed the court’s decision, ordering American businesses to “move forward” with ordering their employees to be vaccinated.
Mr. Biden's Justice Department sided with him, saying that he "clearly has the authority to protect workers and actions announced by the president are designed to save lives and stop the spread of COVID-19." Whether he does have the authority to contradict a federal court ruling is arguable at best. But White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain says, "If OSHA can tell people to wear a hard hat on the job, to be careful around chemicals, it can put in place these simple measures to keep our workers safe."
Meanwhile, anti-mandate workers across the country have been protesting "forced vaccinations," and this week, it is expected that hundreds of thousands of workers will participate in a nationwide walkout.
One of the organizers of the walkout, California attorney Leigh Dundas, told the Epoch Times that, in addition to those Republican states fighting the mandate in court, workers, regardless of their political persuasions, will join the anti-vaccine walkout. He said that "BLM, gay, straight, Jewish, Muslim, Native American, Asian, Latino, Christian, atheist—all groups—are coming together for this one historic moment in time—to trumpet not just to our own government, but indeed to the watching eyes of the world, that vaccine mandates will no longer be tolerated. That in this country, we are the government, because our founding fathers knew this truth: a truly free nation is a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people."
Brandon Trosclair, owner of a Louisiana-based grocery chain that operates 15 supermarkets, is protesting the mandate by joining a group of remote workers from Texas in a federal lawsuit challenging Mr. Biden’s decree. They call the mandate “illegal.” In a statement he issued, Trosclair declared the Biden Administration's COVID strategy is this: circumvent Congress, ignore the Constitution, then threaten and bully millions of Americans to get vaccinated against their will. It's an assault on the U.S. Constitution, which the President has sworn to uphold."
Trosclair was particularly angry that the president was overplaying his hand by telling him how to run his business and ordering him to make personal “medical decisions” -- decisions that his employees have a right to make themselves. “I am faced with an incomprehensible choice imposed upon me by the federal government: force these workers, whose dedication and skills have fueled my business’s success, to take the COVID vaccine—or show them the door.”
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