Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I rise today to express my deep concern with President Biden's disregard for American freedom. President Biden's strong-arm push to force Americans to choose between their health and decisions affecting their health, on the one hand, and providing for their families, on the other hand, is wrong.

I simply do not believe the Federal Government has any business mandating the COVID-19 vaccination for all Americans.

Now, let me be clear. I believe that vaccines, broadly speaking, have provided immense benefits to society, nearly eradicating measles, polio, smallpox, and more in the United States.

I have personally received the COVID-19 vaccination, as has my entire family, and I view the rapid development of effective COVID-19 vaccines as a miracle; one that safeguards the vulnerable from severe illness and from hospitalization.

I believe that the FDA's expedited approval process is effective at efficiently reviewing and producing generally safe drugs and devices for Americans' use.

Additionally, I believe the emergency use authorization can make drugs available to Americans more quickly, which, in some cases, can mean the difference between life and death.

So even with the speed by which COVID-19 vaccines were developed and made available, I very much believe that they are generally safe. However, receiving the vaccine is a decision that Americans should make with all the facts in front of them, in consultation with their doctors, and with full consideration of their own current health circumstances.

However, President Biden made his intentions clear when announcing his Federal mandate saying: ``This is not about freedom or personal choice.''

Look, we have got to remember that anytime someone, someone who is serving as the President of the United States, while issuing a sweeping Federal mandate, insists that this is not about freedom or personal choice, it is. It necessarily is. It unavoidably is.

The fact that he made this statement is troubling. The statement highlights the fact that the President does not understand the key relationship between citizens and government under our Constitution.

Every mandate, regulation, tax, or any other government imposition comes necessarily at the cost of freedom and personal choice of Americans. It is a tradeoff we make with government. Use of overwhelming government power, without even considering the implications on freedom, is precisely why our Founders thought the Declaration of Independence, a revolution, and our Constitution were necessary.

I have heard from many Utahans who are at risk of being unemployed if they choose not to get the vaccine. In fact, within the last week alone, my office has heard from no fewer than 144 Utahns in distress for this very reason.

Allow me to share just a few of their stories:

A young woman in Utah has two autoimmune diseases. She was told by her doctor that she should not get vaccinated because of her existing health conditions. Yet her employer has informed her that, contrary to her doctor's recommendations, she must get the vaccine or be fired. Get the vaccine or be fired, those are the only two options she is left with.

A soon-to-be-mother, who has been advised not to get the vaccine because of her pregnancy, has been told by her employer that she must choose between receiving the vaccine and receiving a paycheck. Without her job, she will not have the means to care for her child.

A disabled veteran, who now spends his time working for the VA because he loves helping his fellow veterans, has been informed that he must be fully vaccinated within the next 75 days or lose his employment. This ultimatum imposed by President Biden is making him choose between receiving an unwanted medical procedure, on the one hand, while, on the other hand, being unable to provide for his pregnant wife and their child.

After businesses have weathered the economic impacts of COVID-19 and the corresponding shutdowns that have led to so many closures and bankruptcies, President Biden now wants to force employers to act as a sort of medical police force. They must impose a vaccine mandate on their workforce or be forced to pay a heavy fine.

This mandate is constitutionally dubious--and that is putting it mildly--and it is not reasonable and it neglects the interests of business owners, families, and individuals alike.

Look, threatening the employment of millions of Americans and making employers become enforcers is not how our country will return to normal. It is not even how you will make more people decide to get the vaccine. These steps will only erode meaningful relationships that Americans have with one another.

The utility of such a sweeping mandate is also in question. In fact, a recent study from three hospitals in Israel shows that natural immunity was ``27 times more effective than vaccinated immunity in preventing symptomatic infections.''

This mandate completely ignores existing evidence-based data lending credibility to the reality that millions of Americans may not need to be vaccinated because they have acquired natural immunity from previous COVID-19 illness. Further, the mandate dismisses the reality that there are outstanding questions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine's safe administration to those who are immunocompromised or have certain other health-related concerns or how to accommodate any who may have objections rooted in religious or other sincerely held beliefs.

The decision to engage in a medical procedure, you see, is personal. It is deeply personal, and even the idea that it can be forced upon citizens by the Federal Government is offensive. If particular American citizens do not feel that the receipt of the COVID-19 vaccine is the right decision for them or their children, then they are entitled to that belief.

A mandate by the Biden administration to be vaccinated against COVID- 19 under threat of unemployment will not quell Americans' concerns; instead, it will likely further erode the little trust that may currently exist.

Now, I don't believe that the Federal Government has been as transparent as it must. In its effort to get as many people vaccinated as possible, it has neglected the responsibility to inform Americans of any adverse effects that some may have experienced. These unfortunate instances of harm following the administration of COVID-19 vaccines must be acknowledged even if they are rare.

The fact that instances of adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccines are not being shared with the public or even, in many cases, the medical community, causes me grave, grave concern. It has left those who have been adversely harmed with almost nowhere to turn. It has caused distrust in the unvaccinated that the government may have something to hide.

When openly and transparently informed, I believe that each and every American is able to handle the responsibility of weighing the risks of getting vaccinated or not getting vaccinated. I honestly believe that most Americans, after speaking to their doctors, will make the decision that is best for themselves, for their families, and for our country.

Finally, while I have not seen the final regulation for President Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, nor do I know definitively even what statute he is claiming provides him with this sweeping authority, I highly doubt that this unilateral action is constitutional. But, frankly, I don't think the President cares. President Biden knows the effects his announcement and even a temporary regulation will have, even if it is later ruled unconstitutional. Even if the mandate is never fully or ever implemented, it still could get him what he wants.

Businesses across the Nation are yielding before the awesome might of the Federal Government in complying with this Executive mandate before it has even legally been drafted, let alone enforced.

According to the vague outline that President Biden's speech provided, a business would risk going under if even a small percentage of its workforce were unvaccinated at the time enforcement begins. This is a scare tactic--a scare tactic of the absolute worst sort--and it is working. People are scared, and I am here to defend them.

Today, in this bill, the Senate has the opportunity to protect those in the minority, those Americans who sincerely believe, due to religious conviction or otherwise, that they should not receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

This bill would not prevent businesses from imposing their own mandates or establishing rules for their own workplaces. All this bill would do is to ensure that the Federal vaccine mandate provides an exemption for Americans whose sincere beliefs prevent them from receiving the vaccine.

Furthermore, nothing in Federal law provides President Biden the authority to institute the vaccine mandate on private-sector employers or on the public at large, and today Congress has the opportunity to rectify this situation for the American people.

Now, I want to be clear. This is not the end of my discussion here. I have 12 of these bills. I will be back tomorrow and the next day, for as long as it takes to win the fight against this sweeping mandate.

So, Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S.

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Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I want to be very clear about something. There are no exemptions built into the mandate because the mandate doesn't yet exist.

As far as I can tell, this may be a feature and not a bug, you see, because he gave a speech--he gave a speech--talking about the fact that he was going to issue the mandate. He didn't release any legally operative documents, didn't even disclose his precise source of authority to do this--authority which I highly doubt even exists. So there is no document to challenge. No one can sue to challenge the document because the document doesn't exist.

But businesses everywhere fear and, indeed, know that it is coming, and so their general counsel's offices, their human resources departments for employers with more than 99 employees in this country are scrambling to get ahead of it. Many are even adopting and some, I am told, are moving forward with enforcing or preparing to enforce those same policies. So what will happen is that those employees who have these sincerely held objections will be without recourse.

Now, my friend and colleague from Washington makes the point that these exemptions are already there. That is a legal and factual impossibility because the mandate does not yet exist. The document isn't in there, which begs the question: If it already exists, then what would be her objection or anyone's objection to merely adopting a measure that says any such mandate, if and when it is issued, must contain such an exemption--an objection that my friend and colleague from Washington assures us already exists. It is difficult for me to understand how this would be objectionable.

Without these protections, you see, President Biden is telling many religious minorities in the country that they need not apply for a job, and if they have got a job already, that that job is in jeopardy.

Freedom to make one's own medical decisions is fundamental to our system of liberty. The economic impact of the mandate is going to hamper our economic recovery as workers are forced to make hard decisions.

Here we are talking specifically about objections rooted in religious or other sincerely held personal beliefs. If, in fact, that exemption already exists, that protection is already there, which it isn't because it can't be because the document itself doesn't exist, then why not embrace it? Why not accept it? Why not acknowledge it in law?

I struggle to imagine what harm could come from protecting religious minorities in this country, and I find it very discouraging and very distressing that this body, the U.S. Senate, wouldn't want to do everything we possibly could to make that happen.

Another word about the fact that it doesn't yet exist; the mandate isn't there. Because it is not there, employers with more than 99 employees around the country are being forced to guess as to what it might mean, and a whole lot of them are already preparing their own policies--in some cases, already adopting them and enforcing them based on their own anticipation of what the mandate may be. What it means as a practical matter is, you can't sue anyone. You can't sue any administrator in the Biden administration or elsewhere in the Federal Government who is going to be enforcing this because you don't know what they are going to be enforcing. There isn't a dispute ripe for adjudication in any court anywhere because we don't know what that is.

For many people, this entire exercise could be rendered moot in the meantime, not just moot in the sense that the court would lack article III jurisdiction to entertain the dispute in question, but moot in the sense that they might lose their job, moot in the sense that they are going to have to face this awful Hobson's choice between maintaining their ability to provide for their family, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, receiving a medical procedure that they would deem harmful and objectionable based on their religious or other sincerely held beliefs. This is not America; this is not acceptable; and this is not and cannot possibly be constitutional.

We should be able to do this.

I am going to be back tomorrow, the next day, and as long as it takes to keep addressing this issue. Freedom matters, and the Constitution matters. President Biden has ignored them both. Thank you.

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