Kansas vaccine mandate foes rally, vent anger in hearing
ABC News
Hundreds of people opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates have rallied at the Kansas Statehouse
TOPEKA, Kan. -- Hundreds of people opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates rallied Saturday at the Kansas Statehouse, encouraged by Republicans who see President Joe Biden's policies as a spur for higher turnout among conservative voters.
The rally kicked off ahead of a rare weekend legislative committee hearing on mandates that affect as many as 100 million Americans. The hearing gave dozens of mandate opponents a chance to vent their frustration and anger both with the Democratic president's administration and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The panel's name — the joint Committee on Government Overreach and the Impact of COVID-19 Mandates — signals that Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature already have concluded that the mandates violate people's liberties. But many are not yet sure what power the state has to resist.
Saturday's hearing came after state Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican hoping to unseat Kelly next year, announced that he has brought Kansas into a federal lawsuit against Biden's vaccine mandate for employees of government contractors.
