After President Joe Biden announced a new mandate on Thursday ordering every company with 100 or more employees to require COVID-19 vaccines or weekly COVID tests, U.S. Navy SEAL and Republican Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw responded in a series of tweets and raised the prospect of a revolt.
Biden’s mandate is expected to impact about 80 million working Americans. Businesses that reject the mandate could face penalties up to $14,000 per violation, a senior Biden administration official said, according to the Washington Post.
Following Biden’s announcement, Crenshaw tweeted, “Are you people trying to start a full on revolt? Honestly what the hell is wrong with Democrats? Leave people the hell alone. This is insanity.”
“Mandates are cheap governance,” Crenshaw continued. “The right path is built upon explaining, educating, and *building* trust, including explaining the risks/benefits/pros/cons in an honest way so a person can make their own decision. The Biden Administration has completely failed in that regard.”
“Our founders designed a system that treated citizens as more than just children. Our grand experiment is designed for a free people. Yes, that entails risk. Yes, I’ll take risk and freedom over a paternalistic government any day,” Crenshaw said in subsequent tweets. “And it should be noted, a huge portion of the unvaccinated are younger minorities. So this impacts a broad range of people, not just ‘anti-vaxxer Trump supporters,’ as Dems believe. Democrats are declaring war on everyone, not just conservatives.”
The White House anticipates the new policy will impact about 80 million working Americans, or nearly two-thirds of the U.S. workforce. In addition to the mandate affecting businesses with over 100 employees, Biden will also mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all federal workers with no testing option to opt-out, which will affect several million more Americans. The Associated Press reported health facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds would also have to be fully vaccinated, in an order affecting about 17 million more workers in the U.S.
The president’s order will also extend to employees of contractors who do business with the federal government.
Biden’s mandate comes just weeks after the FDA granted approval to the Pfizer COVID vaccine. Within days of the FDA’s approval, the Biden administration had announced a vaccine mandate for the entire U.S. military.
The U.S. Navy recently announced all active-duty sailors and Marines are required to get the COVID-19 vaccine within a 90-day window or face “punitive or administrative action or both” for disobeying a lawful order. Reserve members were given a 120-day window to take the vaccine.
The U.S. Air Force also announced their own deadline for all members to be “fully vaccinated” by November 2.
While the vaccine mandates are already moving forward for the military, at least one lawsuit challenging the military’s mandate has already emerged. Dale Saran, a retired U.S. Marine lawyer who previously represented service members who refused the Anthrax vaccine, is suing to have a judge declare a medical exemption to the military’s vaccine mandate for service members who had already survived a prior infection and have a measure of natural immunity.
