Vax mandate amendment fails as 4 Republicans bail

FPI / February 21, 2022

The Senate on Thursday narrowly killed an amendment to the 2022 Continuing Resolution that would have defunded vaccine mandates.

The amendment, proposed by Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, failed by a vote of 47-46 after four Republicans skipped the vote.

Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Jim Inhofe on Oklahoma, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Richard Burr on North Carolina did not show up for the vote, giving Democrats, who were missing three votes themselves, the majority they needed to ensure that Team Biden's vaccine mandates would continue to receive funding.

A more narrow amendment proposed by Texas Republican Sen. Tex Cruz would have barred federal funding from going to schools and other child-care facilities that impose Covid vaccine mandates. Cruz's amendment was defeated, 49-44, with GOP Sens. Roy Blunt of Missouri and Susan Collins of Maine joining all Democrats in opposition.

"The only way Dems win the vote is if Rs skip town. Don't!," Cruz tweeted Thursday.

Had the amendments by Lee or Cruz passed, the continuing resolution to fund the government, or stop-gap spending bill, would have had to go back to the Democrat-controlled House, which is out of session for the remainder of February.

In December, the Supreme Court blocked Joe Biden’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) vaccine mandate for private employers. Team Biden, however, can still enforce mandates in certain employment sectors, including medical workers, military personnel, federal employees, and federal contractors.

South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune attributed the situation to senators wanting to leave for the Munich Security Conference.

"Those folks are leaving later this afternoon," he said.

The Republicans who bailed on the vote were slammed by GOP House members.

“Scumbags,” Florida Republican Rep. Anthony Sabatini bluntly stated in reference to the missing Senators, as well as the 19 Republican Senators who voted to fund the government. “The 19 @SenateGOP RINOs that voted to fund the Federal Government while it’s pushing vaccine mandates must each be primaried & ELIMINATED from the @GOP immediately,” Sabatini added in a later tweet.

“Missing R’s keeping vax mandates alive? Romney (UT), Inhofe (OK), Burr (NC), & Graham (SC). No excuses – they should all be shamed,” tweeted Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy.

Daniel Horowitz, a senior editor at the Blaze, tweeted: “Imagine Burr, Inhofe, Romney and Graham thinking that they had something more important than defeating sickening mandates on human bodies. If they don’t want to be there for the most important votes they should resign.”

Free Press International