This could be problematic.
Several Republicans have revealed that if the next funding bill includes funds for federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the GOP will consider shutting down the government.
According to a report by Fox News Digital, a letter authored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX.) and signed by many Republicans pledged to withdraw support for government funding legislation that included money for vaccine mandates.
Federal government funding will expire on February 18; at that time, Congress can either pass a continuing resolution or appropriations legislation to continue funding.
In a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday (January 25), Roy mentioned that this action by him and colleagues signing the pledge would reveal whether GOP Senators would “unite… to pledge not to fund enforcement of these mandates.”
In the statement, Roy highlights that most Republicans believed vaccine mandates were “tyrannical and foolish” but questioned whether they would “unite before government funding expires on February 18 to pledge not to fund enforcement of these mandates?”
He continued his call out, by querying whether “10 of the 19 GOP senators who voted to punt last time now stand up for health care workers or not?”
The letter reveals that Republicans would be approaching Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA.) to express that they believed the party was at a crossroads where they would have to “decide whether they will vote to fund a federal government that is enforcing tyrannical COVID-19 vaccine mandates on the American people.”
The letter also highlights that the Biden administration has already “unilaterally imposed” five COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federal employees, government contractors, medical workers, and the military, despite the Supreme Court ruling OSHA did not have the authority to mandate vaccines for businesses with 100 or more employees.
The letter –– that contains more than a dozen signatures, including GOP Representatives Paul Gosar (AZ.), Scott Perry (PA.), Clay Higgins (LA.), and Lauren Boebert (CO.) –– concluded with those who undersigned refusing to support “any federal government funding vehicle” whether it was a continuing resolution or appropriations measure “that funds the enforcement of COVID-19 vaccine mandates at any level of government.”
