The Washington Update has reported on Biden’s plan to force COVID vaccines on employees of private companies since July. After months of uncertainty, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has finally published the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), which “requires covered employers to develop, implement, and enforce a mandatory COVID vaccination policy with an exception for employers that instead establish, implement, and enforce a policy allowing employees who are not fully vaccinated to elect to undergo weekly COVID testing and wear a face covering at the workplace.” It “generally applies to employers in all workplaces that are under OSHA’s authority and jurisdiction,” except for those covered by the federal contractor vaccine mandate. Employees who work from home or work exclusively outdoors are also exempt.

According to their summary, the ETS “is effective immediately upon publication” — 30 to 60 days from now. That’s right — this emergency rule, drafted and reviewed over the leisurely course of several months, delays enforcement for another one to two months after publication. “Unvaccinated workers face grave danger,” they allege, but we’re not going to do anything about it until after the holidays.

Will the rule stand? Not if Senate Republicans get their way. At least 40 Republican senators are backing a push to vote on a resolution disapproving of the rule under the Congressional Review Act. While that may not be enough, said Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of the backers, “it’s still worth having the battle.” He said the election results from Virginia, New Jersey, and elsewhere showed “there’s a wave of dissatisfaction over this enormous government that’s getting involved in our medical lives, our business lives, our personal lives.”

The ETS may not survive in court. More than a dozen state attorneys general have been chomping at the bit, just waiting to stampede the rule as soon as it goes live. OSHA’s rule invites them to challenge by admitting they are treading on turf where states have jurisdiction. “OSHA intends to preempt any State or local requirements that ban or limit an employer from requiring vaccination, face covering, or testing.” By so doing, OSHA has taken a risky strategic gamble, as historically ETSs have a poor track record in courts.

States can challenge the ETS on multiple grounds. There is the question of infringing on state jurisdiction. There is the question of whether this is a real emergency (a case that OSHA’s foot-dragging practically writes itself). There is the question of the legality of the crippling fines proposed. There is the deafening silence on exemptions, whether for medical reasons, on conscience grounds, or because of natural immunity. There is the question of compelled speech, as companies are required to promulgate the government’s message to their employees. There is the question of whether this is a workplace issue, or whether OSHA shoehorned in some rules for a hazard not primarily found in the workplace.

There is the question of HIPPA violations, as companies are required to obtain and keep files of the private medical records of their employees. According to the summary, “The ETS requires employers to determine the vaccination status of each employee, obtain acceptable proof of vaccination, maintain records of each employee’s vaccination status, and maintain a roster of each employee’s vaccination status.”

Americans want the COVID crusade to end. The U.S. recently reached 70 percent of adults who are fully vaccinated and 80 percent who have at least one shot. Where is the threshold to end the mandates and restore normality?

Originally published here.

Ways without Means: House Moves to Spend Big

Most politicians would have seen Tuesday’s election drubbing as a reason to step back and reevaluate. Not these Democrats. After the shellacking her party took, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) doesn’t seem a bit admonished about her agenda. On the contrary, she seems downright adamant about it. While her strategists panic, Democratic leaders are moving full steam ahead on a multi-trillion dollar plan that voters in even blue states just rejected. Maybe Pelosi wants to end her career “shoveling as much money out the door as possible,” NRO speculates, but it’s baffling why “scores of House Democrats… would elect to follow her off the cliff.”

Even before the reckoning of Tuesday, some moderate Democrats were having second thoughts about Biden’s Build Government Bigger plan. At least five members of Pelosi’s party warned her that they wanted time to read through the 2,700-page monstrosity and see real budget estimates — not the “zero-dollar” nonsense this White House keeps pushing. House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) tried to explain that a legitimate CBO score on the cost “is gonna take probably at least 10 days to two weeks.” Ignoring that (and the true costs), Pelosi is dead-set on a vote this Thursday.

That’s not likely to win over her more cautious members — or Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who took this week’s results in Virginia the way his party should have — as a “wake-up call.” “I’m concerned,” he admitted. “I’ve been talking about our debt, I’ve been talking about inflation, [and] I’ve been talking about the [economic] fallout we may have [from the spending bills].”

Meanwhile, voters of both stripes were dumbfounded to hear Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) election analysis, which accused Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe of not being radical enough to win. “If anything, I think that the results show the limits of trying to run a fully 100-percent super moderated campaign that does not excite, speak to, or energize a progressive base. And frankly, we weren’t even really invited to contribute on that race.” If a Marxist welfare-state, anti-parent, pro-CRT/LGBT campaign doesn’t pass the extremism sniff test, then it’s going to be an interesting 12 months.

“They can blow it off on different reasons,” Senator John Boozman (R-Ark.) said on “Washington Watch,” “But the reality is that the policies that are being pushed out of Washington, the policies that are being pushed out of the statehouses in New Jersey, Virginia, [and] all over the country are out of touch with reality.” If Joe Biden’s crashing approval ratings weren’t proof enough, there’s also new polling from the Harvard Caps/Harris Poll that paints a bleak picture for Democrats on the bill they’re betting their majorities on. By a 58-42 percent margin, the American people despise it. So if the plan is a proven loser — not just in surveys, but politically in Virginia and other states — why on earth are House leaders pushing it?

Because it’s the fulfillment of their ultimate dream: crippling the economy and dooming America to government reliance. “We just got a new 2,000-page bill here a few moments ago,” House Ways and Means ranking member Kevin Brady (R-Texas) shook his head on “Washington Watch.” “[And] the bill is getting bigger. It’s hard to believe after all these tax hikes — including on small businesses and [companies] that will drive American jobs overseas — but they already had $550 billion dollars in green pork. [Now, they’ve] managed to sneak in more… [along with] new tax breaks for trial lawyers, labor unions, recording artists and more. And so this bill just keeps getting bigger. All with special interest giveaways.”

And although the cost keeps climbing, Brady says they still have no hard and fast price for the package. “The big question is: Will the House even have a price tag when Democrats vote on it on the House floor? My guess is probably not.” Like every other trillion-dollar mistake, Pelosi wants Congress to pass it to find out what’s in it. Well, we already know plenty about what’s in it, Brady says, and that’s what’s turning off voters. “I think that was one of the one of the reasons we saw such a huge win in Virginia last night and almost a huge upset in New Jersey,” he agrees.

People are being gouged by grocery costs, they’re seeing rising prices at the gas pump, and they’re worried about paying their bills, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) argued. “I think the message is [Democrats] have been spending too much, borrowing too much… and this idea that you can have something for free, well, I think people are smarter than that.”

They also understand that America’s growth has flatlined. We’re one million jobs short of Biden’s promises (and driving away the workers we do have with vaccine mandates). Inflation is through the roof. And what are Democrats doing? Trying to make the economy worse. Whether they’ll succeed with this disaster of an “infrastructure” bill is anyone’s guess. But there’s one thing we know for sure they’ve managed: improving the Republicans’ 2022 chances.

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.