The editorial board of the Washington Post thinks that in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision striking down the OSHA employer vaccine mandate, Congress should pass a law giving OSHA that authority:
The Supreme Court’s ruling that President Biden’s vaccine mandate was an overreach, beyond the powers given to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration by Congress, should be an impetus for others who do have the authority to push ahead with vaccine mandates. Congress ought to explicitly authorize federal vaccine mandates. It’s now clear, from a year’s experience, that vaccines prevent serious disease, and mandates work to get more people vaccinated.
Go for it, Democrats. Go try to pass a law requiring all Americans to either get vaccinated (and boosted!), or lose their jobs. This is a 50-50 issue at best. (Interestingly, more than half of federal workers in one survey said they opposed the Biden administration’s vaccine requirement for federal workers.) A decent percentage of people who are vaccinated and pro-vaccination do not support firing employees who refuse to get vaccinated. But go ahead, Democrats. Give Republican challengers in this November’s House and Senate elections one more issue to bring up in attack ads.
“I’m vaccinated, and I hope you are, too. But I also recognize that vaccination is a personal choice, and no one should make you do something you’re not comfortable doing. But Congressman So-and-so thinks that Washington should force your boss to fire you if you’re not vaccinated. This November, you get to decide whether the federal government will treat you like a citizen, or like a subject.”
