Four Republican Senators failed to show up to vote on an amendment that would have defunded the remaining vaccine mandates coming from the Biden administration.
The amendment failed in the Senate on Thursday on a vote of 46-47. Republican Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Richard Burr of North Carolina didn’t show up for the vote. Only three Democrat Senators failed to show, giving Democrats the edge on the amendment.
Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas commented on the failure of the amendment on Twitter, claiming that GOP leadership, “was coordinating with Schumer and giving green light when votes could occur,” adding, “you cannot count on GOP ‘leadership.'”
19 @SenateGOP voted FOR funding tyranny of govt forcing Americans to take a needle or be fired… AFTER seeing @SenMikeLee Amendment go down (4 didn’t even vote), all coordinated by GOP leadership:
Barrasso (WY)
Blunt (MO)
Capito (WV)
Cassidy (LA)
Collins (ME)
Cornyn (TX)…
(1/2)— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) February 18, 2022
Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee led a group of Republican senators who refused to vote yes on a continuing resolution to fully fund the federal government until the amendment was passed. (RELATED: House Releases Short-Term Funding Bill With Shutdown Less Than 2 Weeks Away)
In a letter released Monday, the group of Senators led by Lee stated that while the Supreme Court put a stay on Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s enforcement of the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate for large employers in January, military personnel, federal employees and medical professionals are still uncertain about how remaining vaccine mandates would affect them. “[T]he American people as a whole still face uncertainty as to whether President Biden has abandoned his desire to impose similar requirements on them,” the letter reads.
Federal vaccine mandates are immoral. pic.twitter.com/2emONqdVZe
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) February 17, 2022
The letter was signed by Lee, Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis, Indiana Sen. Mike Braun, Ken. Senator Rand Paul and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.