Newhouse Introduces Bill to Protect Critical Workers and Supply Chain from President Biden’s Overreach
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) released the following statement after introducing H.R. 5978, the Exemptions for Critical Workers Act. This legislation would provide an exemption for federal workers identified as "critical" and/or "essential" by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from the Biden Administration's overreaching vaccine mandate that all federal employees receive a COVID-19 vaccine by November 22nd or face termination.
"Our supply chain is already experiencing nationwide shortages and delays exacerbated by the Biden Administration's reckless policies. Now, President Biden is holding the workers who keep our country running, and who have been on the frontlines since the onset of the pandemic providing essential service, hostage through his vaccine mandates, further threatening the stability of our economy.
"Countless federal employees throughout Central Washington who operate and protect critical facilities are facing termination over what should be a personal medical decision. Mandates are not the answer to the economic problems that families in my district are facing, and I stand with our essential workers in calling for an end to the Biden Administration's overreach.
"Let me be clear: our frontline workers do not deserve to be fired. My legislation ensures these critical workers who have kept our key industries functioning long before there was a vaccine available to them, can make the health decision that is right for them, while continuing to do their important work."
Original cosponsors include:
Reps. David McKinley, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, David Rouzer, Randy Weber, Tracey Mann, and Rick Crawford.
Click here to read the full text of H.R. 5978.
Background:
On September 9, 2021, President Biden released an Executive Order requiring all federal employees and contractors be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 22, 2021 or face the risk of termination.
Vaccination rates in Central Washington currently hover around 60 percent fully vaccinated and continue to go up.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency defines "Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers" as "Workers who support crucial supply chains and enable cyber and physical security functions for critical infrastructure. The industries that essential workers support represent, but are not limited to:
- Medical and healthcare
- Telecommunications
- Information technology systems
- Defense
- Food and agriculture
- Transportation and logistics
- Energy
- Water and wastewater
- Law enforcement
On October 26, Rep. Newhouse introduced the Options Over Terminations Act, which provides federal employees and contractors with the option to provide proof of prior COVID-19 infection and antibody presence as an exemption from President Biden's federal vaccine mandate.
According to the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention report on October 28 and November 5 previous infection with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) or COVID-19 vaccination can provide immunity and protection from subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection and illness.
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