Rep. Jeff Duncan | Jeff Duncan Official Website
Rep. Jeff Duncan | Jeff Duncan Official Website
On April 24, Congressman Duncan led a letter with Congressman Vern Buchanan to the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to urge them to end the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on America’s healthcare workers when the public health emergency ends on May 11, 2023.
“We are continuing the fight to end the draconian COVID shot mandate imposed on our nation’s healthcare workers. The Freedom for Health Care Workers Act has passed the House with bipartisan support, Joe Biden has ended the COVID national emergency, and the public health emergency expires next month. The next step should be to recognize the medical freedom of health care workers and end the authoritarian COVID shot mandate imposed on them by CMS,” said Duncan. “The healthcare sector continues to face workforce shortages, and our healthcare workers deserve better than being forced out of their jobs for choosing not to receive the COVID shot.”
“The pandemic is over, and has been for some time,” said Buchanan. “Continuing to subject health care workers to unnecessary, pandemic-era big government overreach provides no benefit and will inevitably lead to adverse health outcomes for patients. The public health emergency expires in May, and with its expiration, President Biden should rescind this heavy-handed mandate and stop contributing to our nation’s already concerning health care worker shortage.”
“On April 10, 2023, President Biden signed into law H.J.Res. 7, which ends the COVID-19 national emergency. This resolution passed the House and the Senate with strong bipartisan support. We believe that ending these emergency powers is only the first step for returning to normalcy post-pandemic. We are hopeful that ending the national emergency is followed by the swift termination of draconian policies on our healthcare system, specifically the end of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate,” the lawmakers wrote. “We strongly urge you to repeal this authoritarian rule that forces healthcare workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine in order to keep their job. We believe this was misguided, un-American policy from the beginning.”
Background: The Supreme Court overturned the OSHA vaccine mandate, and the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on federal contractors is blocked by the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Fifth and Sixth Circuit. On April 10, 2023, President Biden signed H.J.Res. 7, which ends the COVID-19 national emergency, and the end of the Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 is still scheduled for May 11, 2023. The CMS COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers will remain in place under the current rule and is not set to expire until November 2024.
Cosigners: Reps. Jeff Duncan, Vern Buchanan, Jim Banks, Anna Paulina Luna, Troy Balderson, Claudia Tenney, John Moolenaar, George Santos, Robert E. Latta, Lauren Boebert, Randy K. Weber, Kat Cammack, Andy Harris, M.D., Guy Reschenthaler, Rich McCormick, M.D., Marienette Miller-Meeks, M.D., Ralph Norman, Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S., William Timmons IV, Glenn Grothman, Lisa McClain, Neal Dunn, M.D., Rudy Yakym III, Nick Langworthy, Daniel Webster, Scott Perry, Sam Graves, Jeff Van Drew, Warren Davidson, Mary Miller, Brian Babin, John H. Rutherford, Ronny L. Jackson, M.D., Diana Harshbarger, Gus M. Bilirakis, Josh Brecheen, Byron Donalds, Adrian Smith, Austin Scott, Tracey Mann, Harriet M. Hageman, Michael Guest, Dan Bishop, Michael Cloud, C. Scott Franklin, Dan Crenshaw, Barry Loudermilk, Greg Pence, Chip Roy, Eli Crane, Barry Moore, Drew Ferguson, Mike Collins, James R. Baird, and Ben Cline.
Original source can be found here.
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