Conservative Republicans are using all tools at their disposal to deny the timely passage of government funding measures till it stops vaccine mandates for companies employing 100 or more people. a total government shutdown is a possibility though the directive is yet to take off.
Republican Senators including Texan Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Utah, and Ron Johnson, Wisconsin, have resolved to halt the quick passage of a short-term funding bill, (continuing resolution). Such bills require the support of all Senators.
The move if it materializes could scuttle bipartisan dialogs to extend funding to as later as February.
The threat of a Government shutdown is similar to earlier moves by Republican hardliners like Chip Roy, Texas, and Marjorie T. Greene, Georgia, for an administrative shutdown if fresh spending legislation doesn’t stop the vaccine mandate.
This Could Be The 3rd Government Shutdown Since 2017
Such a government shutdown could effectively cause the third one since 2017 after midnight on Friday.
Republican lawmakers revile the testing and vaccine mandate, terming it a case of outright overreach by the federal administration. They have sought to eliminate the mandate in Congress though they do not have the required votes for it and have proposed a government shutdown as the only way to go about it.
The vaccine mandate was proposed in September when the new variant, called Delta, first made an appearance. The President mandated for employers of private entities with 100 or more workers to ensure the workforce was either vaccinated or tested regularly.
The mandate was to go into effect starting January. But Republicans went to court in 23 American states to prevent OSHA from carrying out the vaccine mandate. The measure has been finally blocked by a court in November.
Judi Conti of the National Employment Law Project said that it would be weeks before the case moves through federal courts. He said that anyone planning to shut down a government over the vaccine mandate that hasn’t even taken effect would be doing gross injustice to federal contractors and employees across the nation.
She said that an administrative shutdown would jeopardize the wages of the workers. While federal workers would eventually get their back pay, contractors such as janitors would lose out entirely on their wage checks.
