Representative Kevin Hern (OK-01) held a press conference this afternoon after meeting with local business leaders to discuss President Biden’s recent vaccine mandate on all employers with 100+ employees.

While the President has the power to issue Executive Orders, it is up to Congress to fund them. Rep. Hern plans to take legislative action to withhold funding from the Department of Labor for the implementation of this mandate. Rep. Hern has not ruled out legal action.

You can watch the video here.

Excerpts from Rep. Hern’s remarks are below:

I’ve spent several days discussing the negative effects of the Biden Administration’s recent executive order that requires all private businesses with employees of 100 or more to be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine or they’ll be subject to a massive fine. Our small businesses have been crushed during this pandemic...

Like most instances in a free market, small businesses have been leading the way in creativity, ingenuity, innovation, and overall best practices during this COVID era.

The executive order will only hinder small business’s productivity and wreak havoc on the workforce during an economic time where workers are already scarce. How does the government show appreciation to [small businesses]? By implementing more punitive regulations…

Not only is this EO in violation of our small busines owners’ rights as private entities, but it also intrudes on doctor-patient relationships of individual employees across America and here in Oklahoma…

[The Biden Administration’s] approach ensures that the normal rulemaking procedures will be circumvented while as many as 80 million of Americans and thousands of businesses will be forced into compliance before they even have the ability to comment to their government. Those who do not comply will suffer massive fines, which will put businesses in a difficult way and will cause financial hardships that will be unrecoverable…

Over the past few days, I’ve received a clear message from small businesses and individual constituents across our district that this federal overreach will not be tolerated. That is why I’m announcing today a number of steps on behalf of my constituents to push back on this federal overreach.

First, we will use the power of the purse, that Congress has for all funding, to look at how we fund the implementation of the rule from the Department of Labor. I, along with my colleagues across America, will do everything in my power to stop the funding of this mandate.  

Second, we will look at every action possible, once the rule comes out, including and up to legal action, to push back on the Biden Administration and their unconstitutional overreach as it relates to private business in America.

While we are still waiting to see the final language of OSHA’s standard, based on the Biden administration’s announcement, I believe there is plenty of evidence that gives us the authority to do this.

###