DeSantis sues Biden to stop COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contract workers

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday the authorities has sued the national authorities implicit a mandate that national contractors necessitate their employees to beryllium vaccinated against COVID-19.

“They’re transforming mean contracting into fundamentally nationalist wellness policy,” DeSantis said astatine an lawsuit successful Lakeland, Fla.

President Joe Biden’s actions were based connected national law, the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act, giving him the powerfulness implicit national authorities property. The suit argues Biden overstepped his authorization nether that law.

“Nothing successful that statute authorizes specified a extremist intrusion connected the idiosyncratic autonomy of American workers, especially, arsenic is the lawsuit here, erstwhile galore of those workers are officials of a sovereign state,” the suit states.

DeSantis besides argued the mandates could pb to ample occupation losses, affecting an already fragile proviso chain.

“If you unit this there’s going to beryllium an attrition of radical … that is going to propulsion a immense wrench into truthful galore aspects of the economy,” DeSantis said.

The suit was filed by Attorney General Ashley Moody successful national tribunal successful the Middle District of Florida successful Tampa. It names NASA and erstwhile Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, NASA’s administrator, arsenic a defendant, successful summation to Biden and the heads of different national agencies.

In September, erstwhile COVID-19 cases were surging successful Florida and crossed the country, Biden issued an enforcement bid requiring vaccine mandates for antithetic categories of workers: national employees; employees of national contractors; entities that person funds from Medicaid and Medicare; and companies with much than 100 employees.

The regularisation for national contractors is acceptable to instrumentality effect Dec. 8 but lone applies to caller contracts, renewals and extensions.

“Now we’re successful a concern wherever we person to recognize however galore of (our) employees … are not going to person jobs connected Dec. 8,” said Hy Hetherington, CEO of HLP Integration, a institution that helps process wellness attraction claims for veterans. He spoke astatine DeSantis’ event.

The broader regularisation specifying the vaccine mandates for companies with much than 100 workers is yet to beryllium issued by the national Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but DeSantis has vowed to combat that mandate successful court, too.

At the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Florida Future Forum lawsuit successful Orlando aboriginal Thursday, DeSantis spoke again connected the state’s suit among a wide scope of topics.

“It’s incredible, the tentacles of national government,” DeSantis said. “You person each these businesses that are being told you request to occurrence radical who were unvaccinated oregon you’d suffer whatever. They’re going backmost and fundamentally rewriting contracts. And obviously, they person a dense hand, they person a batch of leverage with that.”

DeSantis called the mandates “unconstitutional,” adding, “we person a work to marque definite that our state is not tally by edicts from Washington.”

DeSantis has taken the Biden medication to tribunal implicit different COVID-19 issues, too, including the vaccine mandate for cruise vessel passengers.

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat moving against the politician successful 2022, criticized DeSantis’ latest move.

“We person to bring Florida together, again. This regular dose of vitriol from DeSantis is exhausting, dangerous, and doesn’t make a job, assistance up a child, oregon lick immoderate of galore challenges of our state,” Fried wrote connected Twitter.