Five Republican senators banded together on Wednesday to introduce a new bill that would prevent the U.S. Department of Transportation and all of its subagencies from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination for businesses that engage in interstate commerce.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, and Mike Lee of Utah introduced the Prevent Unconstitutional Vaccine Mandates for Interstate Commerce Act in an effort to curb the Biden administration’s attempts to mandate the COVID-19 jab for businesses.
“The Biden administration’s decision to mandate vaccines for working Americans is an outrageous trampling of civil liberties and a dangerous precedent for what a U.S. president can unilaterally impose on the American public,” Johnson said. “The American people deserve transparency and as much information as possible from the federal government so they may make an informed choice about their own health. … No one should be pressured, coerced, or fear reprisal for refusing treatment, including the Covid-19 vaccine.”
The senators all expressed concern that the Biden administration tried to impose the burden of a mandate on businesses already struggling to recover from months of government-induced lockdowns.
“While American businesses are working hard to recover from the devastating impacts of COVID-19, President Biden is set on implementing more mandates, lockdowns and restrictions that are holding them back,” Scott said in a statement. “It’s the government’s job to inform Americans and then let every family make the right choices that will keep themselves, their businesses and their employees safe.”
Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw plans to introduce a similar bill in the House of Representatives.
“The last thing that Americans need right now is another mandate that further prevents hardworking citizens from having the freedom to live their lives,” Crenshaw said in a statement. “President Biden’s vaccine mandate is a cheap, unconstitutional overreach of governance and we will not stand by while it happens.”
