Vaccines

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I am beginning to feel a little bit like a broken record when I am here on the floor and talking about all the ways that Tennesseans feel like this administration has backed them into a corner.

It doesn't matter if I am going to fill up the car with that rising price in gas, or if I am at the grocery store and could not believe this weekend there is so little on the shelves and they are so short- staffed.

People are very anxious about this. I had a lady that just about was not going to let me go there in the dairy section of the grocery store because she was really upset with what this administration is doing. Whether it is inflation or the vaccine mandate, she is really upset with what she would like to call the ``White House P.R. operation.'' And she knows that inflation and supply chain problems are here. It is not temporary. It wasn't transient. It is something that they are dealing with every day, and Tennesseans are seeing this at every stop along their busy days.

They have watched this administration abandon the southern border. You know, they don't use that term lightly, but I think it is instructive to focus in on that. This administration has abandoned the southern border.

These actions are intentional actions--intentional. Whether you talk to Border Patrol or the local sheriff, they look at what Democrats in Washington are doing, and they see this as being intentional.

They also look at how this administration chose to abandon a productive energy policy. In January, we were an exporter--an exporter--of energy. And, today, we have a President--a very weak President--who is groveling to OPEC, begging them--begging them--to sell us more fuel. What a difference. What a difference.

And this administration--when I was up in Clarksville where Fort Campbell is located, I was out on post, and I was visiting with Tennesseans there in Clarksville. They feel as if this administration has abandoned our troops, abandoned civilians and allies in Afghanistan as we handed over 20 years' worth of hard-fought territory to the new ``axis of evil,'' which is Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea-- abandoned, left, forgotten about. Over the past few weeks, they have learned that even their recreational social media use might be putting their families at risk.

Meanwhile, things here on Capitol Hill are such a mess that, from their perspective, it is neither reasonable nor rational to believe that the Democratic majority is willing to put country before party and politics and fix this mess that this administration has made this year. In fact, the Democrats are so focused on their own Big Government narrative that they have managed to outdo themselves with the mandate from on high that goes further than ever before to control deeply personal healthcare decisions.

Of course, the Democrats are no stranger to this. They championed the Affordable Care Act and all its bureaucracy, but this time, they have truly put the full force of the executive branch of the U.S. Government between a patient and a doctor. That is right. The decision is not one you will make with your doctor; it is one that the Federal Government is making and forcing--forcing--on you. This COVID-19 vaccine mandate has people really upset. They see this as a power play.

Today, I talked to a lady who works for a government contractor. All of the family's insurance and benefits come through her. Her husband is a small business person, and she has a child with disabilities. She begged me to keep fighting against this mandate.

She said: You know, I am in the position that I had to get this--even though a family member of hers had a terrible adverse reaction, and she was concerned being the primary breadwinner for her family and the one that provides their healthcare insurance benefits. And she had a reaction, a bad reaction.

But she feels like what we are seeing is another opportunistic power play that betrays the very people who risked their safety to prevent the economy from collapsing during the pandemic--that is right, the essential workers, people who showed up and did their job.

The lady I talked to today was an essential worker. She did her job all through the pandemic. The States deemed these individuals essential workers because they showed up. They spent their days transporting food and clothing across the country, stocking shelves in grocery stores, and keeping armed rioters at bay.

They never stopped working. They never missed a beat. They put themselves in danger and adapted to circumstances made worse by forced lockdowns. These are the people who couldn't have worked from home if they wanted to. They are the cop on the beat. They are the truck driver who is in the cab of that truck. They are the healthcare worker standing at a bedside. They are an airline worker who is making certain that people are safe and planes are safe to fly.

And, now, they are the ones that Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and this administration have chosen to threaten with an executive ultimatum: Get the shot, or we are going to get you fired.

That is right. Imagine that. The President of the United States says: You go get the jab, or I am going to get you fired from your job--what an ultimatum, what a way to run a country.

But that is what he is doing. The White House crossed so many lines with this one: practical lines, ethical lines, constitutional lines. So last week, I introduced the Keeping Our COVID-19 Heroes Employed Act to push this administration back on the rails and protect these essential workers from having to choose between submitting to the mandate or losing the right to provide for their families.

It is a simple solution to a very big problem. It would lock in the definitions of essential worker used by the States during the pandemic and then protect those workers from being fired under COVID vaccine requirements. It would nullify the Executive orders mandating vaccines for essential Federal workers and contractors and preempt OSHA from issuing regulations that would require employees to vaccinate if those employees qualify as an essential worker.

We are getting a tremendous amount of support for this legislation. On the national level, we have heard from the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the National Border Patrol Council, and from the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, Tennessee Ambulance Service Association, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the National Association of Small Trucking Companies, and then from several individual officials-- Democrat and Republican alike--and from different organizations.

Mr. President, see, these are individuals on the front line, and they take exception to what is going on with this administration and this Executive order that is forcing them to get a shot that maybe their doctor is saying: Hey, this is not one for you to take.

Maybe they are a young woman trying to have a baby. Maybe they are somebody who has a history of heart disease or lung disease or neuromuscular issues in their family and someone has had an adverse reaction.

You know what? People are smart. They are going to figure this out and figure out what works best for them. During the pandemic, the essential workers figured this out, and they ought to be exempt.

The Biden administration claims that this mandate is the ticket to freedom, return to normal. But here is the problem with this and why that falls on deaf ears. These essential workers returned to normal months ago--if they ever left a normal routine--and their working conditions have been made more difficult now than ever.

Businesses are desperate for workers. In August, the U.S. economy had 10.4 million jobs waiting to be filled. That is right, 10.4 million jobs. We are going to get unemployment numbers this weekend on Friday. I think it is going to be interesting to see what those numbers tell us.

Oh, the supply chain--I mentioned the grocery store and what I found there. Well, the supply chains are a mess. We need 80,000 truck drivers right now--today--if we want to make an honest attempt at filling the need there to get products to stores. We can't afford the toll these mandates are taking on the supply chain workforce or on law enforcement or border security or the healthcare sector or the airline industry, the transportation and logistics industry.

And make no mistake, the day of reckoning is already here. As I said, these workers have figured this out. They are smart. They don't hate the country. And it is ridiculous that some people try to equate those that don't get the vaccine with hating the country. These individuals are not anti-vaxxers. They are not anti-science. What they are is this: They are anti-unconstitutional mandate and a government overreach that is going to interfere in their relationship with their doctor. That is what they are against.

Mr. President, don't we all remember the lie of the decade in 2010 with ObamaCare: If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.

And what we are looking at right now is something that is an equal overreach: You can't keep your job if you won't get this jab. It is an overreach.

People that I am talking to are really anti these mandates that would force them into submission or, in some cases, into poverty, like the young mom that I talked to who works for a government contractor--sole supporter of her family at this point, has one child, wants to have another child, and because of this mandate, she is going to lose her job, a job she loves--and her employer loves her. But she is wanting to make certain she can have that second child.

These workers are very pro-freedom, and they are taking a stand on principle. They are pro-freedom. They are pro-individual rights, and what they want is for this administration to stop it, to stop their push to this socialist agenda, stop trying to force them into taking a vaccine, which is another step to having government control of their healthcare.

You know, they look at what the Democrats in Washington, DC, are doing, and they see that they are trying to take one vote. They want to win. They want to win on putting everything together--one vote--and then flipping the country to their socialist agenda--one vote: government control of your kids, of your healthcare, of your bank account, of your life, cradle to grave, daylight to dark, sunup to sundown, 24/7, 365.

You know, I have to tell you, we thought that when the Obama campaign came out with their little caricatures and cartoon-type character--only it was really frightening--``The Life of Julia,'' we thought, this is ridiculous how Julia never needed anybody or anything but the Federal Government.

Well, some of that same crowd in the White House has now come up with ``The Life of Linda,'' and Linda must be related to Julia because Linda has the same type life experiences as Julia. There is no mention of a family or a husband, but Linda has a child. Linda works for the government. The government is in control.

See, that is what the Democratic Party wants--socialism. They are very happy with that--cradle to grave; daylight to dark; total control; tell you what to do; tell you what your job is going to be; tell you what you are going to study in school; take control of your children; send them to study whatever they want; and then have them work in a way that the government tells them they are going to work.

But what we are seeing play out in this country is the American people standing up and saying: Enough is enough. We don't want your mandate. We are tired of all of your chaotic cycle of gaslighting and government overreach. We are pushing back on your push to a socialist agenda.

I am heartened that they are not afraid to say ``no, no, no'' to what the Democrats are trying to push, and they are going to continue to push back because they see what is happening for what it is--a destructive, radical agenda that will destroy freedom of choice, free people, free markets, and opportunity for their children and future generations.

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