The US Senate voted on Wednesday to prohibit President Joe Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large private companies, a symbolic victory for conservatives with little practical impact.
The bill passed 52-48 with all 50 Republicans in the upper chamber and two centrist Democrats on board, but it is unlikely to pass the House of Representatives, where it is likely to receive mainly right-wing support.
From January 4, all companies with more than 100 employees will be required to demand their staff to be inoculated or undergo weekly testing, according to Biden’s plan.
Senator Mike Braun of Indiana spearheaded the charge against the bill, telling reporters that threatening Americans’ jobs if they refuse on both counts is “the heavy hand of government.”
Senate Republican Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming accused Biden, who is not a doctor, of “medical malpractice.”
Joe Manchin, one of the two Democrats who voted with Republicans, said after the vote that while he favors a vaccine requirement for federal employees and the military, it is “not the federal government’s job” to impose regulations on private enterprises.
