-9999
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, it is sort of hard to be able to recognize a simple fact that this is the United States of America, home of the free, land of the brave.
Then why is it such a difficult conversation with so many people in my State when they ask this question: Are we still free as a nation?
Why are we having this conversation? Are we still free as a nation? Of course, we are.
We are having this conversation because September 9, the President of the United States announced he was losing patience with the American people, and he was going to put a new demand on every single office in America, every workplace; that anyone who had 100 or more people in their company, every single person in that company had to be vaccinated because the President was losing patience with them. He said it is for health risk.
COVID-19 is serious. I have been vaccinated. Everyone in my family has been vaccinated. I am exceptionally grateful for the vaccine. But to be able to reach into companies with this one simple statement: If you don't follow my instructions, so the President says, you will be fired--that every person in the country now doesn't work for their employer, they now work for the President of the United States. May I remind us, we are the United States of America, home of the free, land of the brave; that we are a people who make our own decisions and live in a free nation.
What is interesting is, there is all this conversation about everyone needs to be vaccinated or we are not going to ever get to herd immunity; we will never get to herd immunity; we will never be able to put down COVID-19. How many times have we heard that statement over the past year and a half? We have got to get to herd immunity.
Well, I don't know if anyone has looked lately at the CDC's website. But if you go to the CDC website, it will list out percentagewise how many people have been vaccinated or currently have natural immunity in their system. And if you go to their website and see it, the number that they have for 16 years old and up is 92 percent of America. Ninety-two percent of Americans either have natural immunity, antibodies in their system, or they have received the vaccine and have that set of antibodies in their system.
May I remind us again, how long have we been talking about herd immunity? I understand COVID is a tenacious disease. I take it seriously because, like every single person in this room, I have lost family members and friends who have died due to COVID. But we do not have the right as Americans to assign to the President of the United States that that President can actually go to any company he chooses and pick and choose the companies and say, this company, everyone has to be vaccinated; that company, they don't. If you have 95 people, it is no big deal. If you have 100 people, they are toxic. If you are FedEx and UPS, you need to all be vaccinated, but if you are the U.S. Postal Service, you don't have to be vaccinated. That kind of picking and choosing that the President has done around our economy, that is not the role of the U.S. President.
For all of us who take this disease seriously and for all of us who have been vaccinated and stand up frequently and talk about the importance of vaccinations, we also believe that we are Americans and that we are free people.
So what are the mandates that are down now? Well, there was a private-sector mandate for every company of 100 or more. There was a Federal contractor mandate that if you have a company that works for the Federal Government, regardless of your size for any Federal contracting, that you have to also have every person vaccinated. There are Federal employers who all have to be vaccinated, members of the military, reaching into the National Guard, which, for the first time ever, they have violated the law, saying that they are going to literally cut the pay for members of the National Guard who are not vaccinated, though the law clearly states they cannot reach into a State National Guard and literally pick and choose individuals they want to pay and don't pay. They have already dropped that out there and saying they are going to do that as well.
They have reached out to members of the healthcare community and told them, if you have Medicare or Medicaid, then you all have to be vaccinated. What has been the response? The American people have responded loud and clear that they believe we live in the land of the free. And while millions and millions have been vaccinated, they all turn around and say, it was also my choice to be able to do that.
Companies in my State are literally requiring employees to sign two forms: One saying that they will get vaccinated and the second form saying, if you have a negative reaction to the vaccine, you won't sue our company.
What in the world? That is not who we are.
So what has happened in just the last couple of weeks? Well, the courts have finally gotten involved. First off, the courts have done a nationwide stay on the private-sector mandate. That is what we are talking about tonight, putting a nail in the coffin with a vote in the U.S. Senate to say: No, we will not allow this.
There has been a nationwide stay put in for those individuals that are on Medicare and Medicaid and those healthcare workers. There has been a nationwide stay now for Federal contractors, for universities, for individuals around the country that have any connection with the Federal Government.
The courts have already stepped in and said the President doesn't have the authority to do this, and this vote tonight is whether this body agrees that the President should have unilateral power to declare whatever he wants for any private-sector business in the country or if the President doesn't have that authority to do that. That is all this vote is. This vote is not about vaccines and, as has been falsely accused, this whole group of anti-vaxxers that are out here.
This is a very simple vote: Do the people in this body believe that the President of the United States has the authority to declare that any employee in any company of 100 or more to do what he wants?
I say no, because we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave, and it is time for us to go on record on if we believe that or not.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source