Barrasso Backs Bill to Halt Federal Vaccine Mandate

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to join my Republican colleagues to oppose President Biden's vaccine mandates.

Last December, President-elect Joe Biden told the American people that he would not issue a vaccine mandate. Just a year ago, as President-elect, Joe Biden said:

I don't think they should be mandatory.

He said:

I wouldn't demand it to be mandatory.

Last October, as a Presidential candidate, Joe Biden said:

You can't say ``Everyone has to do [it].''

Then, this summer, his Press Secretary said it is ``not a role the federal government even has the power to make''--``not a role even the federal government has the power to make.''

In July, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control said:

There will be no nationwide vaccine mandate.

Then, in early September, with this Nation in shock and reeling because of the disastrous collapse in Afghanistan, suddenly and unexpectedly and completely opposite of everything this administration has promised, the Biden administration broke the law, and in doing so, violated the rights of the American people by calling for this vaccine mandate.

Joe Biden issued a nationwide mandate, and in doing so, he has taken a sledgehammer to the American workforce and the American economy. Because of the President's irresponsible policies, we now have the worst labor shortage in American history, and we have broken new records for unfilled jobs. As a result, we also have the worst supply chain crisis in 40 years. We don't have enough goods on the shelves. We don't have enough workers to fill the shelves.

The President must have known that many wouldn't comply with his mandate. He must have known people would be forced out of their jobs as a result of the mandate. He didn't seem to care. He imposed the mandate anyway.

Now people are losing their jobs, shelves are empty, and prices continue to rise. Inflation is the No. 1 concern of the American people.

Now, I am a doctor. I am vaccinated, so is my entire family. I am pro-vaccine and anti-mandate. Vaccines work. Nationwide mandates don't work.

Courts have already ruled that the President's mandates are illegal. Yesterday, a Federal judge in Georgia blocked the mandate on Federal contractors. Not only are these mandates illegal, they are ineffective.

Joe Biden's mandates have only hardened people against the vaccine. They have increased resistance to getting vaccinated because President Biden has politicized the vaccines, and all the mandates have accomplished is making people lose their jobs.

In the Joe Biden world, his mantra seems to be, vaccinate or terminate.

What we ought to be doing, instead, is giving people information. Let them work with their doctors to make the right decision for them and their families.

That is what I have been doing for decades in Wyoming as a doctor. We don't need mandates. We don't need public health officials who can give Americans reliable information, saying they have to enforce and apply a mandate. They are there to give the information and then the vaccine if the person chooses to have it.

The Biden administration spent 10 months flip-flopping on this issue. President Biden ran from his basement during the campaign saying he was the answer to COVID. He is not, hasn't been. He has sent one mixed message after another, and then he has issued a nationwide mandate. It has been inconsistent, ineffective, and incompetent.

When President Biden issued his mandate, he said, ``We've been patient [with the unvaccinated] but our patience is running thin.''

Well, I will tell you, Mr. President, the American people have been patient. It is the patience of the American people now with you, President Biden, that is wearing thin.

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