Kentucky Rep. James Comer, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, and other top House Republicans sent a Friday letter to Labor Secretary Marty Walsh asking for information about the Biden administration’s plans to implement its vaccine and testing mandate for the private sector.
The letter, first obtained by the Daily Caller, was signed by Comer, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx and Missouri Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer. Foxx is the ranking member of the House Committee on Education, and Luetkemeyer is the ranking member of the House Committee on Small Business. In it, they ask the Department of Labor for a list of documents and communications related to vaccine mandates.
“It is un-American for a President to steamroll job creators’ and workers’ rights, particularly during an onslaught of Democrat-induced economic hardships. Instead of taking real leadership, Biden is forcing job creators to become the vaccine police to prop up his failed COVID-19 response and economic recovery,” Foxx told the Daily Caller. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans To Introduce ‘FREEDOM Act,’ Would Fight Biden’s Vaccine Mandates)
In the letter, the lawmakers mention then-President-elect Joe Biden’s comments on Dec. 5, 2020, where he promised vaccines would not be required. They then mention White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s comments from May 14, 2021, where she said the Biden administration was not considering federal vaccine mandates, asking what changed when Biden pushed for a mandate weeks later. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Republicans To Introduce Legislation To Block Federal Agencies From Requiring Proof Of Vaccination)
Here Is What They Are Demanding:
- All documents and communications referring or relating to OSHA guidance to American employees and employers for the surveying of employee vaccination and testing status.
- All documents and communications referring or relating to COVID-19 testing options for American employees and employers who will be subject to the vaccine-and-testing mandate.
- All documents and communications referring or relating to costs to American employees and employers to implement and enforce the planned vaccine-and-testing mandate.
- All documents and communications regarding the federal government’s internal analysis and assessments of the economic impacts of the planned vaccine-and-testing mandate on American employees and employers.
- All documents and communications referring or relating to time-off requirements for employees who will be subject to the planned vaccine-and-testing mandate.
- All documents and communications referring or relating to telework requirements for employees who will be subject to the vaccine-and-testing mandate.
- All documents and communications referring or relating to OSHA guidance for employer-employee communications regarding the planned vaccine-and-testing mandate.
- All documents and communications referring or relating to religious, medical, natural- immunity-based, or other possible exemptions for employees from the planned vaccine- and-testing mandate.
- All documents and communications referring or relating to OSHA guidance on written compliance plans which American employers may adopt with regard to the planned vaccine-and-testing mandate.
- All documents and communications referring or relating to OSHA’s capacity and costs to enforce the planned vaccine-and-testing mandate and whether additional OSHA employees will or should be hired to enforce the mandate.
- All communications between or among Department of Labor employees and White House employees referring or relating to the design, implementation or enforcement of the planned vaccine-and-testing mandate or alternatives to it.
- All communications between or among OSHA employees and employees of other Department of Labor components referring or relating to the design, implementation or enforcement of the planned vaccine-and-testing mandate or alternatives to it.
- All communications between or among Department of Labor employees and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) employees referring or relating to the design, implementation or enforcement of the planned vaccine-and-testing mandate or alternatives to it.
- All documents and communications between or among Department of Labor components or between or among Department of Labor Employees and White House or Department of Justice employees reflecting analysis by the White House, the Department of Justice, OSHA, or other components of the Department of Labor concerning the legality of the planned vaccine-and-testing mandate.
READ THE LETTER HERE:
In the Senate, a group of Republicans introduced legislation that would protect Americans’ personal health records and prohibit a number of federal agencies from requiring proof of vaccination or the use of a vaccine passport.
In late August, Biden urged more private sector companies to impose vaccine requirements after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Pfizer vaccine. (RELATED: Biden Pushes For Private Sector Companies To Impose Vaccine Requirements Following FDA Approval)
The Pentagon will require all military service members to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The Republicans demanded the information is delivered to them no later than October 28, 2021.