President Joe Biden dismissed Republicans’ threats to take him to court over his sweeping employer vaccine mandate, saying they can “have at it.”
The new rule, which requires employers with more than 100 employees to mandate vaccination or weekly testing, is legally dubious, according to several GOP governors who plan to challenge the mandate in court.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called in an “assault on private businesses” and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster vowed to fight Biden “to the gates of hell.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has banned vaccine mandates in his state, similarly vowed legal action.
“How could we get to the point in the country where you would want to have someone lose their job because of their choice about the vaccine or not?” he said. “I do not believe that people should lose their jobs over this issue, and we will fight that. If they try to do that through a rule like the Department of Labor, I don’t think they have the legal authority to do that, but we obviously would want to support protections for people who are just trying to earn a living.”
Biden accused these GOP governors of being “cavalier” with their citizens’ health.
“Look, I am so disappointed that particularly some Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities,” he said on Friday. “This is — we’re playing for real here. This isn’t a game.”
Biden also claimed the GOP’s opposition does not matter because “the vast majority of the American people” support the mandate.
“I think the vast majority — look at the polling data — the vast majority of the American people know we have to do these things. They’re hard but necessary,” he claimed.
A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 52% of Americans supported businesses mandating vaccination for workers.
