Jason Smith: No on vaccine mandates- our sacred liberty is not negotiable

(From Eighth District Congressman Jason Smith)

On January 7, the Supreme Court held one of the most important hearings of my lifetime. They considered two challenges to rules that have been brought forth by the Biden administration to impose vaccine requirements on employers. 

Overturning these rules is absolutely essential to Americans’ freedom and liberty, and I will do everything in my power to support these cases and fight these rules as your representative in Congress.

The first case challenges the Department of Labor’s Emergency Temporary Standard that imposes a requirement on all businesses of 100 or more employees to either require their workforce to be vaccinated or to test their employees weekly. If employees refuse to submit under this new guidance, their jobs are terminated. 

The second case challenges a rule brought by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that would prohibit any provider who participates in Medicare or Medicaid from being paid if they were not vaccinated. Together, these rules impact more than 100 million American citizens, but their reach goes far beyond that. For example, some employers who wish to require their employees to be vaccinated are using the federal requirements as cover.

As I’ve repeatedly stated, these vaccine mandates are the most blatantly unconstitutional, authoritarian actions I believe the federal government has ever taken against its citizens. Because it’s important we leave no stone unturned in supporting this case, this week I filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court along with 136 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 47 U.S. Senators. 

An amicus brief allows members of Congress to highlight important constitutional issues for the justices’ consideration. In this case, we wanted to highlight that the Biden administration was trampling on the rights of states on an issue that has typically been handled at the state level. We also wanted to make clear that Congress passed no law giving the Department of Labor the authority to take this unprecedented action.

But we’re not putting all our eggs in the basket on the outcome of this case. That’s why on December 14, 2021, I wrote to Speaker Pelosi along with 108 of my colleagues in the House to demand that she bring legislation to the floor nullifying the vaccine mandate and let Congress vote on it. This same bill passed the U.S. Senate with bipartisan support. Every member of Congress who wants to take away their constituents’ medical freedom should be on record, but all I’ve heard back from her is crickets.

And this isn’t the first time I’ve demanded the Biden administration withdraw this unacceptable vaccine mandate. On October 27, 2021, along with the Republican Leader of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, I wrote the Office of Management and Budget, the powerful agency in charge of implementing new regulations, stating, “Given the reckless and shortsighted nature of the vaccine mandate […], we urge you to immediately withdraw it. OMB should not proceed with this excessive executive action which has been largely hidden from the eyes of millions of Americans it will affect.”

I will also continue to fight legislatively. In Congress I have co-authored the Freedom from Mandates Act and the Health Freedom for All Act, to ensure that federal vaccine mandates will never be allowed to go into effect. I have also added my name and your voice to a bill prohibiting forced COVID vaccinations in the Armed Forces. I will continue doing everything I can to convince my Democrat colleagues to pass these critical pieces of legislation.

The best government is one that’s closest to the people, because only then can elected officials understand what’s best for those they represent. I’ve talked to so many Missourians who are fearful about the actions this administration has taken, essentially dangling their economic livelihood in front of them like some sort of negotiable benefit that the government has granted them. This administration needs to be told – whether by Congress or the courts – that America’s most sacred, fundamental liberty is not negotiable.