Backlash Against Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Mounts Within GOP

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden’s new broad set of federal mandates, aimed at compelling Americans not yet vaccinated against COVID-19 to get the shot, was met with an immediate and forceful backlash from his political opponents.

Republican governors, lawmakers and pundits blasted Biden’s plan, unveiled Thursday, as a major governmental overreach and threatened lawsuits to block enforcement. Biden has called for making vaccines or regular testing mandatory in most workplaces and signed an executive order requiring all executive branch employees and contractors to be vaccinated, with no exception for those preferring testing. “Joe Biden told Americans when he was elected that he would not impose vaccine mandates. He lied,” said Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. She said that the RNC will sue the administration on behalf of “small businesses and workers [who] do not have the money or legal resources to fight Biden’s unconstitutional actions and authoritarian decrees.” It is far from clear that Biden’s mandates are unconstitutional or illegal. Experts say they will likely survive a court challenge. But they certainly represent a change of position for a White House that has, to this point, been careful about seeming to attack or strong-arm unvaccinated individuals.