As Landon reported on Tuesday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has introduced legislation known as the Keeping Our COVID-19 Heroes Employed Act to protect essential workers from being fired if they do not wish to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Sen. Blackburn spoke with Townhall about legislation protecting these workers who "during the pandemic showed up" and "did their job," as well as "figured out how to handle COVID."
The senator raised concerns that President Joe Biden and his administration are "just hellbent to get every individual to get the shot, whether they have a medical condition or not."
Sen. Blackburn emphasized that whether or not to be vaccinated is something that should be decided between an individual and their doctor. She shared with Townhall that she has spoken to workers who have histories of heart disease and lung disease and other medical concerns, who have thus been advised not to take the vaccine. "So Joe Biden is basically saying to these individuals, I'm going to cost you your job," as the senator put it.
Blackburn sees it as having more ominous, far-reaching implications when it comes to the Democratic agenda. "It is an overreach. It is something that the Democrats are doing because they want to move us to a socialist agenda and compromise our freedoms. They want government control of your lives, your kids, your healthcare, your bank account, cradle to grave, daylight to dark, 24/7/365."
This concern of "overreach" is not merely to do with imposing vaccine mandates on workers who do not want it, but on supply chain issues as well. There are concerns that the December 8 deadline for the vaccine mandate, a little over a month away, will be impossible to meet. Thus, during the approaching holiday season, there are likely to be shortages with delivery truck drivers, as well as stores being open for shorter hours with fewer products available on the shelves.
While there are fewer products to choose from and products are also more expensive, Sen. Blackburn pointed out that there are 10.4 million unfilled jobs, with more openings to come as people are forced to leave their jobs due to a vaccine mandate they do not wish to comply with.
As Reuters recently reported, this amount is at a record high, which is also likely to keep inflation high.
Again, the senator stressed, this speaks to larger concerns. The Biden administration, she said, is "focused on outcomes," with "the desired outcome for them [being] to turn us into a socialist nation with them in charge." Thus, "they need this pandemic to last into the 2022 elections," with Sen. Blackburn reminding how reliant Democrats are on mail-in ballots.
When it comes to failed attempts to get Hillary Clinton elected president, to bring about a similarly socialist agenda after two terms of the Obama administration, Blackburn says, "They are going to go at it again, and they are hellbent at making it happen this time."
As I covered earlier this month, a Rasmussen Reports survey found that a majority of likely voters believe wider use of mail-in voting will lead to more cheating in elections, with a majority also believing that it is very likely.
A plurality of voters cast their vote by mail for the 2020 election, with a majority of Biden voters doing so.
While Sen. Blackburn said there are "not yet" Democratic co-sponsors, she is confident there will be, especially because so many unions oppose the Biden mandate, which requires workers to get vaccinated.
The senator emphasized that she is thankful the vaccine is available after being put into place by former President Donald Trump and Operation Warp Speed. "But COVID is going to be with us," and "there are things we learn to live with," she stated. She also commended the essential workers who were "at the top of the list of people who got out front and figured out how to handle this every day," which is why "we should exempt them from Joe Biden's federal vaccine mandate."
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