The state of Texas is suing the Biden administration over the vaccine mandate for private businesses, attorney general Ken Paxton announced
The Republican attorney general of Texas Ken Paxton announced on Friday that the state of Texas is suing the Biden administration over the vaccine mandate for private businesses.
“The Biden Administration’s new vaccine mandate on private businesses is a breathtaking abuse of federal power,” Paxton said in a statement.
“OSHA has only limited power and specific responsibilities. This latest move goes way outside those bounds. This ‘standard’ is flatly unconstitutional. Bottom line: Biden’s new mandate is bad policy and bad law, and I’m asking the Court to strike it down.”
Texas is among the several GOP-led states that is against the federal vaccine mandate that will require all federal workers and employees in companies with more than 100 workers to be fully vaccinated by January 4, 2022.
According to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott who recently signed an executive order banning vaccine mandates in the state of Texas, the Covid-19 vaccine mandate will force Texans to choose between keeping their jobs and following their conscious.
Other Texas Republicans are also arguing the most recent Biden vaccine mandate to be unconstitutional. As per the mandate, those who will decide to remain unvaccinated will have to undergo weekly testing and wear mask while at the job.
At least 26 states are now challenging the requirement officially laid out. They argue the authority to compel vaccinations rests with the states and not the federal government. Paxton had already filed suit against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors.
The White House argued Friday it’s incorrect to call the new OSHA rule a vaccine mandate.
“As has been explicit for months, it is a standard for a safe workplace to either comply with weekly testing or to be vaccinated,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.