Senate Republicans Threaten Shutdown Over Vaccine Mandates
A group of Senate Republicans is
threatening to delay action on a spending bill needed to avert a lapse in
federal funding on Friday unless it also bars enforcement of the Biden
administration’s vaccine-and-testing mandate for large
employers, heightening the threat of a government shutdown.
With Congress lagging on finalizing
the dozen annual spending bills needed to keep the government running, there is
broad agreement that lawmakers will need to pass a stopgap measure this week to
stave off a shutdown.
But just two days before funding is
set to lapse, Democrats and Republicans remain at odds over how long the
temporary measure should stretch into 2022 and other details. Congressional
leaders in both parties had publicly downplayed the chances of a shutdown, but
they conceded Wednesday that the funding deadline has increased the leverage of
lawmakers pressing their own agendas.
“If every
member of this chamber used the threat of a shutdown to secure concessions on
their own interests, that would lead to chaos for the millions and millions of
Americans who rely on a functioning government,” said Sen.
Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader.
“It’s up to the
leaders to make sure there’s not a shutdown I’m making
sure, and I think Leader McConnell wants to try to make sure, too,” he added,
referring to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader.
On Tuesday, McConnell flatly said, “We won’t shut down.”
Still, the objections over the
vaccine mandate have threatened already fraught bipartisan talks and raised the
prospect of at least a temporary lapse in funding, presenting the first hiccup
for Senate Democrats in a chaotic month. They are juggling efforts to fund the
government, raise the debt ceiling, complete a hulking military policy bill and
enact their marquee $2.2 trillion domestic policy legislation all before
Christmas Day.
Republicans said the spending bill
offered them their best chance to push back on vaccine requirements that
President Joe Biden announced in November. They appeared to relish the
political message they could send their constituents by forcing a government
shutdown, even as the nation grapples with the emergence of the omicron
variant.
“I think this
is the fight this is where we have the most leverage actually to accomplish
stopping the mandate,” said Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas,
one of the lead Republicans pushing for the provision. “I think that
folks back home want to know how hard we’re fighting
for them, that the jobs back home are as important as keeping the federal
government open.”
The far-right House Freedom Caucus
wrote to McConnell on Wednesday, asking him to use “all
procedural tools at your disposal to deny timely passage” of the
legislation.
The push presented a conundrum for
McConnell, a survivor of polio who for months has made a point of championing
coronavirus vaccines and pushing back against misinformation from other
Republicans who have questioned their efficacy. And while several Republicans
have railed against the mandates imposed by the Biden administration, some
appeared wary of forcing a shutdown over the matter.
“I think the
vast majority of Republicans would not like to see a shutdown, but I don’t think that
would include everyone,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D. “And all it
takes is one person.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.,
declared that “a shutdown is just a useless pathway.”
The stopgap legislation remained in
limbo as lawmakers haggled over the end date and a provision averting billions
of dollars in cuts to Medicare, subsidies and other programs. Plans to vote on
the measure on Wednesday were delayed by a day, but lawmakers and aides
insisted there was still time to avoid a lapse in funding.
“There is no
interest in shutting the government down,” said Rep. Rosa
DeLauro, D-Conn., the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. “We will get
to an endpoint.”
Because the stopgap bill maintains
existing funding, effectively freezing spending levels negotiated with the
Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Senate in 2020, Democrats are
pressing to make it as short-lived as possible. But Republicans have pushed to
extend the measure.
“I’d like
February, March would suit me April, May,” said Sen.
Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee. “I think it
gives us more time to seriously sit down.”
Lawmakers were also debating
additional spending provisions, including more funding for Afghan refugees. But
even if an agreement is reached, the Senate will require unanimous support to
waive a number of procedural steps and swiftly take up the legislation before
the Friday deadline.
Without unanimous agreement, the
process could drag through the weekend, forcing a brief shutdown that would
quickly become dire for federal workers and agencies at the beginning of the
week. Senate Republicans, with the strong backing of House Republicans, have
threatened to prolong the debate unless the bill prohibits funding for a
mandate that all large employers require their workers be vaccinated against
the coronavirus or submit to weekly testing.
“I have long
said that I am not particularly invested in the timing of a given vote — whether it
occurs a few hours earlier or a few hours later,” Sen. Ted
Cruz, R-Texas, told reporters. “But I think we should use the
leverage we have to fight against what are illegal, unconstitutional and
abusive mandates.”
Marshall offered an amendment in
September to an earlier stopgap bill that would have barred funds from going
toward the implementation and enforcement of the mandate, but it failed in the
evenly divided Senate. Some Republicans signaled optimism that a similar
amendment vote this week could pacify their colleagues.
The mandate, which the Biden
administration had said would go into effect in January, has become ensnared in
court challenges. In November, a federal appeals court kept a block on it in
place and declared that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had
overreached its authority in issuing it.
Democrats criticized Republicans on
Wednesday for threatening to shutter the government over a policy that is aimed
at stemming the spread of the pandemic.
“The fact
that they want to walk right up to a government shutdown over a public health
issue should frighten the American public,” said Rep.
Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. “That’s exactly
what they’re advocating here.”