Smucker, home-state colleagues request Pennsylvania oppose Biden vaccine mandate

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) led several of his Republican home-state colleagues in calling on Pennsylvania Attorney General (AG) Josh Shapiro to block President Joe Biden’s recent vaccine mandate.

The Biden administration on Nov. 4 announced two policies to fight the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic: a requirement for employers with 100 or more employees to ensure each of their workers is fully vaccinated or tests for COVID-19 on at least a weekly basis; and the requirement that healthcare workers at facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid are fully vaccinated.

“I have heard from countless individuals across Pennsylvania’s 11th District who are concerned that they will be forced out of their jobs by President Biden’s vaccine mandate. President Biden has once again moved to infringe on Americans’ rights,” Rep. Smucker said in a Nov. 10 statement. “This is a discussion that should be happening between an individual and their physician, not a command coming from the federal government.”

The congressman also said that 70 percent of adults are fully vaccinated in Pennsylvania. “So why is this mandate needed now?” he said. “I will continue to fight against this misguided and authoritarian vaccine mandate.”

In a Nov. 9 letter sent to AG Shapiro, Rep. Smucker and eight Pennsylvania lawmakers asked that he address the related concerns of employers in the state. Among the members who joined Rep. Smucker in signing the letter was U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA), John Joyce (R-PA), Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).

“We implore your office to explore all possible actions to prevent President Biden’s unconstitutional vaccine mandate from further harming Pennsylvania’s hard-working employers and employees,” wrote Rep. Smucker and his colleagues.

The lawmakers pointed out that the vaccine mandate will further strain already tight labor markets in the state and “prove to be ineffective, reduce employment, disrupt supply chains, and further slow down Pennsylvania’s already sluggish economic recovery,” according to their letter.

They also pointed out that the AG should join with the 26 states that have initiated lawsuits against the U.S. Labor Department to strike down the mandate. “Pennsylvania must swiftly joine these states’ efforts and oppose the mandate,” they wrote.

Additionally, the congressmen requested that the AG answer several questions, including whether the state will join the lawsuit filed by the other states or if Pennsylvania would initiate its own lawsuit.