Once again, the D.C. swamp pulled out another win last night. Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s amendment to the 2022 Continuing Resolution (CR) would have defunded vaccine mandates. It failed 46-47. Democrats were missing three votes, but Republicans were missing four. What happened here?
Republicans snatched defeat from the jaws of victory last night because of four spineless senators. This is inexcusable.
Remember that a full seven in ten Americans think that “it’s time we accept that Covid is here to stay and we just need to get on with our lives” according to recent polling by Monmouth University. Americans have also begun to increasingly disapprove of the Biden administration’s handling of the pandemic, with 53% saying that Biden has done a bad job. The public’s opposition to vaccine mandates has also grown considerably in recent months, with only 42% supporting having to show proof of vaccination to work in an office or in a setting where they are around other people. This is down from 53% of people supporting such measures last September.
With numbers like these, why did Republican Senators Richard Burr, Lindsey Graham, Jim Inhofe and Mitt Romney not vote for Sen. Lee’s amendment that would have defunded vaccine mandates? After all, not showing up is just as bad as voting against it.
Of course, we know that Burr and Graham are the epitome of swamp creatures. They are emblematic of the rotten political establishment so despised by Americans across the country. Inhofe, at times a champion for American enterprise and energy independence, appears to be phoning it in now that he’s a lame duck.
And Romney loves to drone on about how our republic is at stake, but he is never actually willing to take the gloves off and stand up to the left’s tyranny. Maybe this wannabe Cato the Younger could actually be bothered to show up and vote against an attack on Americans’ freedoms.
No one cares that you’re a “moderate,” Mitt. MSNBC will still hate you because of that “R” next to your name.
Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Braun also offered up amendments that failed on the Senate floor. There was a clear push from Republicans to stop the CR on the grounds of defunding vaccine mandates and balancing the federal budget. But because of four worthless Republican seats in the Senate, Americans will continue to be subject to vaccine mandates.
So where were these four senators? At a cocktail reception with lobbyists? Stuck waiting for the Metro? This is one of the most important, if not the most important issue facing the nation today, and it’s simply baffling that we have four senators who just “miss” the vote.
When will the GOP realize that it’s times like these that remind voters that Republicans can’t be trusted? Why pride yourself on being a bulwark against Biden and the Democrats’ worst ideas when you can’t even get your act together when it’s crunch time? It may be a midterm year, but Republicans can’t count on cruising across the finish line if they are going to continue to act like this for the next half-year in the minority. Just think about what little can be expected from them in the majority.
Adam Brandon is the President of FreedomWorks
