TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is warning President Joe Biden he’ll take legal action if he follows through with a new federal vaccine mandate.
Schmidt said Thursday that he joined 23 other states’ attorneys general in writing a letter to the president warning of a lawsuit. The group disagrees with Biden’s plan to make any large employers and healthcare providers require workers to either get vaccinated or get weekly tests.
“Congress has not clearly granted you the authority to impose your sweeping vaccine mandate, which would have enormous social, economic, and political consequences. Millions of Americans are threatened with losing their jobs and the benefits that come with them, including life and health insurance and retirement benefits. Your threat carries with it the threat of people losing their homes and shifting the financial obligation of supporting currently independent and employed individuals to public support systems. Worse still, if your expansive reading of the law succeeds, the American people can expect further abuses, as it is hard to imagine any requirement that the law would not allow. You are clearly acting beyond the scope of the statute, and you will fail in court.”
The coalition of 24 attorneys general
The White House has indicated it plans to impose the mandate through an Occupational Safety and Health Act emergency temporary standard, according to Schmidt. The attorneys general expressed concerns about public perception of the order’s constitutionality.
“The one-size-fits-almost-all approach you have decreed makes clear you intend to use the OSHA statute as a pretext to impose an unprecedented, controversial public health measure on a nationwide basis that only incidentally concerns the workplace.”
The coalition of 24 attorneys general
Schmidt, alongside the group of attorneys general, also expressed concern about the mandate’s potential to discourage people from joining the workforce, as many businesses still struggle to fill open positions.
The White House has not responded publicly to the letter from the attorneys general as of Thursday evening. To read a copy of the letter from the attorneys general to the president, click here.