Pushing Back on Vaccine Mandates
Unconstitutional and Unnecessary Vaccine Mandates
Vaccine mandates are divisive and will devastate our economy. For consecutive weeks, I've been speaking to the Senate to get the message out to my colleagues and to Americans more broadly about data and stories from Wisconsinites that you won't hear anywhere else. Several of these video clips have spread widely on social media. I encourage you to seek out this information and continue to share with family and friends. I've also written an op-ed for the Washington Times that I encourage you to read and share.
Washington Times op-ed: Questioning the Science of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Letter to federal health agencies about President Biden's vaccine mandates
September 29 Senate Floor Speech
Prevent Unconstitutional Vaccine Mandates Act
Mark Belling Reads Senator Johnson Op-Ed
A fundamental principle of medical ethics is that people have the right to choose or refuse treatment. No one should be pressured, coerced, or fear reprisal for refusing treatment, including the Covid-19 vaccine. Unfortunately, I've been hearing accounts repeatedly from around the country that companies are forcing employees to make difficult decisions.
I'm sharing vaccine mandate stories from health care workers on my website. Click here to read them and add your own.
Early Treatment Failures
I've been meeting with health care workers from all over Wisconsin to hear their concerns over vaccine mandates.
One aspect of this pandemic I've never understood is why so little attention was paid to early treatment. Our federal health agencies failed to robustly explore and research early treatment options and have not been transparent with the American people.
This week, I wrote a letter with 21 of my congressional colleagues to our federal health agencies asking why they have failed to make early treatment options available to the American public.
Read more in the Daily Caller.
No End in Sight to Biden's Border Disaster
President Biden is disgraceful. Instead of maintaining the policies that worked and giving Border Patrol the resources they need to deal with the humanitarian and national security crisis he created, he is blaming them for a fake controversy over horses and reins created by the radical left and a complicit media. The men and women of Border Patrol working tirelessly to handle Biden's border crisis deserve so much better.
I finally got a response from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in answer to my questions about basic information on apprehensions at the U.S. border. As the crisis at the border worsens each week, it was unacceptable that Mayorkas chose to appear before the American people at multiple hearings unprepared to provide such crucial information. I wanted to know:
- Of the approximately 1.3 million apprehensions, how many people have been returned, how many people have been detained, and how many people have been dispersed into the U.S.?
- Secretary Mayorkas' answer? 500,000 dispersed and 400,000 known "got-aways" in the first 9 months. Annualized that is 1.2 million. This is more than the population in nine states.
I'm afraid this administration does have a plan for the border. And that plan is open borders.
Democrats Need to Own Their Reckless Spending Spree
As much as I hate continuing resolutions to fund government, I have supported short term continuing resolutions in the past because shutting down government is wasteful and hurts real people. I did not support the most recent CR because it includes more unchecked spending and bad policy, including indefinite benefits and REAL ID security access for Afghan evacuees. This administration has not provided Congress or the public basic answers about Afghan parolees and its vetting procedures, which raises significant national security concerns. In Wisconsin, if the governor and state legislature can't pass the budget, we don't shut down the state government, we spend at last year's level. The Prevent Government Shutdowns Act, which I championed and passed out of the committee I chaired, would enforce the same discipline at the federal level. It is a common-sense bipartisan piece of legislation that would address this particular dysfunction and it should have been enacted a long time ago.
Port Washington Post Office Renaming Ceremony
On a gorgeous Saturday in September, I was honored to attend the renaming ceremony for the Port Washington post office in honor of World War II veteran Joe Demler.
Joe Demler served courageously in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was captured and then survived the horrors of a Nazi prisoner of war camp. Throughout his life he truly lived by his motto "every day is a bonus" and proudly shared his story of service through the Honor Flight organization. There was a quiet dignity about Joe and the others who served in World War II. It's why we revere the Greatest Generation. It's fitting this post office where Joe worked for 37 years will bear his name so future generations will know his story of service and sacrifice.
Social Media Highlights
And finally, it was great to meet with the UW-Madison volleyball team when they were in Washington for a game against Maryland last month. On, Wisconsin!
