WASHINGTON – Senator Mike Braun released the following statement after the Supreme Court announced they would block President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for millions of employees of private businesses.
“President Biden’s vaccine mandate for private employees is unconstitutional and wrong. I was proud to lead the vote to overturn this illegal mandate in the Senate, and the Supreme Court blocking this mandate is a win for the liberties and livelihoods of millions of Americans.”
– SENATOR MIKE BRAUN
In December, Senator Braun led the U.S. Senate in a vote on the Biden rule, with all 50 Senate Republicans and 2 Democratic Senators voting to overturn the vaccine mandate rule.
In the Supreme Court’s majority decision, the majority opinion noted Senator Braun’s objection under the Congressional Review Act, highlighted on page 8:
“[…] the most noteworthy action concerning the vaccine mandate by either House of Congress has been a majority vote of the Senate disapproving the regulation on December 8, 2021. S. J. Res. 29, 117th Cong., 1st Sess. (2021).”
BACKGROUND
Congressional Republicans tell Supreme Court to block Biden’s ‘health police’ vaccine mandate
Fox News
Elise Stefanik, Mike Braun, and others argue Biden admin is exceeding its authority with the vaccine-or-test rule
A group of 47 Republican senators and 136 House members is asking the Supreme Court to block enforcement of President Biden’s vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees, arguing that the president and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are exceeding their authority.
“Vaccine mandates—a prototypical state police power— are not within the purview of the Occupational Safety and Health Act,” the members tell the Court, “let alone something on which Congress intended OSHA to take unilateral action under its ‘emergency’ powers.”
The Supreme Court recently scheduled an unusual Jan. 7 oral argument on an emergency appeal related to the vaccine mandate. The court normally decides such appeals on the briefs only.
The argument will consider a request to bar the Biden administration from enforcing the mandate while lower courts decide whether it is constitutional. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently initially blocked the mandate, but the Sixth Circuit overruled that in a consolidated appeal, triggering a flurry of requests for the Supreme Court to reinstate the stay from opponents of the mandate.
Senate votes to repeal key Biden administration vaccine and testing policy
The Washington Post
December 8, 2021
Congressional Republicans on Wednesday ratcheted up their attempts to repeal President Biden’s vaccine and testing mandates, adopting a measure in the Senate to unwind policies that the White House and top public health officials see as critical to combating the coronavirus.
The intensifying campaign mirrored in spirit the political and legal battles that GOP officials waged earlier in the pandemic, as they attacked business closures, mask mandates, and other government-led measures to slow the contagion. With vaccines, Republicans on Capitol Hill argued that the requirements are unwarranted and unconstitutional, putting Americans’ jobs at risk.
In their most public, forceful protest to date, Republicans led by Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) muscled to passage a proposal that aims to repeal the Biden administration’s rules ordering large private businesses to require vaccination or implement comprehensive coronavirus testing for their workers.
Braun’s legislative push hinged on a congressional process that allows lawmakers to review, and potentially revoke, federal agency regulations. The tactic allowed the GOP to take its bill to the Senate floor, even though Democrats control the chamber, where it later passed on a 52-to-48 vote. Two Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Jon Tester (Mont.), also joined the GOP in trying to scrap the mandates.
