With six Democrats absent, Republicans were able to vote down President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate on healthcare workers 49-44 on Wednesday, The Hill reported.
The Republicans invoked The Congressional Review Act (CRA) to force the vote — a tool uses to overturn rules issued by federal agencies. Republicans were able to win the vote because six Democrats did not appear for the vote.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan, proposed the resolution.
Biden's mandate for healthcare workers at facilities that take Medicare and Medicaid — which is ostensibly all U.S. healthcare providers — was put in force through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The House would not have take up the vote on the resolution — and pass it against a slim Democrat majority — before sending it to Biden's desk for what is likely to be a veto, according to the report.
"If it passes this won't go anywhere in the House and President Biden would veto it," a Senate Democrat aide told The Hill.
The six Democrats who were absent on the vote:
- Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin
- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota
- Sen. Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico
- Sen. Alex Padilla, California
- Sen. Tina Smith, Minnesota
Retiring Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., was the only Republican who was absent and did not vote.
The votes were straight down party lines, with the two Senate independents — Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; and Angus King, I-Maine — voting with the Democrats.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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