Motion to Discharge
Floor Speech
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Mr. MARSHALL. It is, indeed. Thank you so much, the senior Senator from Tennessee, for asking me about something so near and dear to my heart--the patient-physician relationship.
I just want to start my remarks by saying that I support the vaccine. I support the vaccine, but I also support an individual's right to decide whether he wants the vaccine or not. That is why I think it is so important to have this patient-physician relationship.
I had the duty and the honor to treat thousands of women with a virus. I learned very quickly that the same virus could cause different problems for different patients, and it was based on their previous medical histories and their underlying medical problems as to what my advice might be.
What my concern today is, is that so many of these heroes of yesterday, the COVID-19 heroes of yesterday, are now being treated so poorly. They are being told to get the jab or else lose their jobs. This mandate is going to lead to unemployment. It is going to lead to more inflation and further disrupt our supply chain. I just wish I could paint a face of all of these people from Kansas who are reaching out to me, saying: Please don't make me make this choice between the jab or my job.
I think of the nurses whom I worked with in Liberal, KS, when the ICU was overflowing. I think of the nuclear engineer folks and the union workers at Wolf Creek Nuclear energy who kept our electricity on. I think of those union workers who work for the Department of Defense contracts in the aerospace industry, and now they are being kicked in the face. They are being told that they are no longer essential, that they are no longer heroes.
Senator Blackburn, I am supposing there are heroes in Tennessee who are now being forgotten as well.
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Mr. MARSHALL. Well, thank you Senator. Indeed, there are more options out there. There are, indeed, more tools in the tool shed that we can use. We plan to oppose any efforts to enforce Joe Biden's vaccine mandate with all the other tools at our disposal, including blocking cloture on any continuing resolution in the absence of language protecting Americans from the mandates. In fact, 50 GOP Senators recently supported this as an amendment to the CR in September.
Senator Blackburn, I know that you also would be concerned about using any type of future funding to enforce this unconstitutional mandate.
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Mr. MARSHALL. Senator Blackburn, absolutely. I can't agree with you more.
One of the big concerns I have is of our safety as well as our national security. I know that both Tennessee and Kansas have Army and National Guard units, and I have been told that perhaps half of the enlisted soldiers have not had their vaccines yet, and I encourage them to do that. But if they get separated from the military, it is going to leave a huge hole in our national security.
I am also concerned about those Active-Duty soldiers who are now being separated from the military as well for refusing the vaccine, and I am concerned about what is going to happen to their records going forward. I was so discouraged when I found out the White House suggested these soldiers get a dishonorable discharge.
In case you don't know what a ``dishonorable discharge'' means, you could be treated like a felon. You lose your VA benefits, and you may lose some of your Second Amendment rights and some of your voting rights as well.
Certainly, again, there is the impact on national security in losing thousands of our soldiers.
Senator Blackburn, I am sure that you have so many people who are reaching out to you of the COVID-19 heroes of Tennessee. I appreciate your bringing this bill to the floor, and I am so happy and honored to support it.
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