WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21) led 18 of Republican colleagues in petitioning House Republican leadership to halt all funding for vaccine mandate enforcement under Medicare and Medicaid Services in the upcoming appropriations bill.
This letter was sent to House Appropriations Chairwoman Rep. Kay Granger, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services Chairman Rep. Robert Aderholt, and Ranking Member Rep. Rosa DeLauro in anticipation of the forthcoming Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 2024.
“As you draft the upcoming Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 2024, we request that you include language in your bill that would defund COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Earlier this Congress, the Freedom for Health Care Workers Act, which would nullify the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ COVID-19 vaccine mandate rule, passed with bipartisan support 227- 203. Unfortunately, Senate Majority Leader Schumer has failed to move the legislation despite last year’s Senate voting 49-44 to approve a resolution of congressional disapproval of the same rule. Congress holds the power of the purse and must take every step possible to defund these tyrannical mandates once and for all.
We therefore request that you include the following language in the FY 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act:
None of the funds provided under this Act to the Department of Health and Human Services, or provided under a previous or subsequent appropriations Act to such department, or provided from any account in the Treasury of the United States derived by the collection of fees available to such department, may be used to enforce the rule titled “Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination”, which was issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on November 5, 2021, or any substantially similar rule.
Again, we are asking that you include language that specifies that none of the funds appropriated shall be used for enforcing COVID-19 vaccine mandates.”
The letter was signed by Rep. Jeff Duncan, Rep. Mary Miller, Rep. Josh Brecheen, Rep. Claudia Tenney, Rep. Andy Ogles, Rep. Ralph Norman, Rep. Dan Bishop, Rep. Glenn Grothman, Rep. Eric Burlison, Rep. Kat Cammack, Rep. Lauren Boebert, Rep. Daniel Webster, Rep. Eli Crane, Rep. Andrew Clyde, Rep. Bill Huizenga, Rep. Scott DesJarlais, Rep.Troy Nehls, and Rep. Bob Good.