WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) today joined Elizabeth MacDonald on The Evening Edit to discuss Senate Republicans filing the formal challenge to President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate under the Congressional Review Act, which will lead to a vote on the Senate floor.
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Partial Transcript
Hagerty on challenging President Biden’s vaccine mandate under the Congressional Review Act: “It’s very appropriate that it’d be brought to a halt. I was the first Senator, Liz, to reach out the week that this mandate was put forward to demand Labor Secretary [Marty] Walsh bring this mandate to Congress to be subjected to the Congressional Review Act. That Act is going to be implemented. We just got the rule here today. I expect it to be a very difficult vote for Democrats to stand by, and I think we’ll have all 50 Republicans on this. I think this is going to get a vote of disapproval. The Fifth Circuit has already said that it’s unconstitutional. I said this at the very beginning. I think this is in big, big trouble and it well should be.”
Hagerty on the absurdity of Biden’s vaccine mandate: “It’s amazing that the first responders, people that worked in health care, people that were in our grocery stores keeping the store shelves filled, if they were essential at that point in time—they risked being exposed, many of them were exposed—and now we’re saying that there’s a vaccine available and they’re going to lose their jobs if they made a personal decision not to take the vaccine. I made the personal decision to take it. I worked with my doctor. That was the right decision for me, but I respect the decision that Americans come to. Everybody’s got their own personal medical decision to make, and that’s our right. That’s our liberty as Americans to do that. We do not need big government stepping in. And as I say, this was an unconstitutional move. 49 of my colleagues have joined me in agreeing with that. I think we’ll have more when this vote comes to the floor.”
Hagerty on Biden’s vaccine mandate bankrupting private businesses: “I completely agree, Liz. The way this rule is drafted, it can be up to $14,000 per individual violation. If the Build Back Better act is passed—which I certainly hope it won’t be—this big-government socialism package includes fines that would be imposed on companies, small-medium companies up to $700,000. This could virtually bankrupt companies. They’re going to have to make the decision, whether to go out of business themselves, let their employees go, or allow the federal government to do it for them. This is not the America that we need to see. This is Biden’s America, and we’ve got to stop it.”