Senate conservatives threaten to hold up government funding over vaccine mandate
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A group of 10 Senate conservatives led by Republican Steering Committee Chairman Mike Lee (R-Utah) are threatening to hold up a government-funding measure and possibly trigger a federal shutdown unless they can vote on an amendment to defund President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Lee and nine other Senate Republicans circulated a “Dear Colleague” letter Friday afternoon threatening to object to procedural requests to speed up passage of a funding bill before the March 11 deadline unless leaders allow them to vote on an amendment to defund the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates for medical workers, military personnel, federal employees and federal contractors.
“We are writing to let you know that we will once again not consent to a time agreement that eases passage of a CR or Omnibus that funds these mandates,” they wrote. “At the very least, we will require a roll call vote on an amendment that defunds the enforcement of these vaccine mandates for the spending period covered by the government funding measure.”
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The letter was signed by Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Steve Daines (Mont.), Rick Scott (Fla.), James Lankford (Okla.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Braun (Ind.), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.) and Rand Paul (Ky.).
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