‘Heavy-handed authoritarianism.’ Hawley, Republicans slam Biden’s new vaccine rules
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley accused the Biden administration of “heavy-handed authoritarianism” Friday in its push to require more Americans to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
In a letter to U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Hawley challenged the agency’s authority to write a rule requiring private-sector businesses to mandate vaccination for their employees.
Biden announced Thursday that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (part of the Labor Dept.) was developing a rule that private-sector businesses employing more than 100 people must require vaccinations or weekly tests. His administration will also mandate shots for most federal workers, federal contractors and personnel at health care institutions that accept federal reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid.
Hawley called the planned directive “heavy-handed authoritarianism.”
“This is bad policy,” he wrote. “It is an infringement on every citizen’s fundamental rights. But most of all, it is an unlawful bypassing of established regulatory procedures.”
It is almost certain that Biden’s vaccine rules will be challenged in court. The attorneys general of Kansas and Missouri have already indicated they are likely to sue.
America has a long history of vaccine mandates — from George Washington requiring troops to be inoculated against small pox during the Revolutionary War to public schools vaccinating for illnesses like mumps and measles. But there is an equally long history of backlash.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has been filtered through today’s polarized political landscape, vaccination rates have been lower in areas that are more conservative politically.
Hawley was one of several Republicans in Kansas and Missouri’s congressional delegation that criticized the vaccine mandate.
On Twitter, Kansas U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall accused Biden of an “all-out assault on private business” and said it was a glimpse of the “new Marxist Democratic Party.”
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, Kansas’ senior Senator, said he was vaccinated and encouraged others to get vaccinated, but said it should be a decision left up to each person.
“This mandate will also only deepen divisions in the country regarding the vaccines, as well as make it even harder for employers to find workers and cause some employees to drop out of the workforce in protest,” Moran said.
U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who is running for U.S. Senate in Missouri in 2022, said the mandate will limit the ability of businesses to hire workers.
“Our most recent jobs report showed the nation is severely lagging behind job creation projections,” Hartzler said. “Threatening workers through forced vaccination will only cause further difficulties in hiring for small businesses and significantly damage our already bruised economy.”
Democrats disagreed. On Twitter, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, Kansas’ sole Democrat in the Congressional delegation, offered up general support for vaccination, if not Biden’s proposed rules about requiring workers to be vaccinated.
“We all want to get back to normal, whatever that looks like, and we know the vaccine is the way out—along with free, fast testing protocols, strong support for small business, and clear guidance on boosters,” Davids wrote.
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 1:33 PM with the headline "‘Heavy-handed authoritarianism.’ Hawley, Republicans slam Biden’s new vaccine rules."