During consideration of a continuing resolution (H.R. 6119) that would provide funding for federal government operations and services through February 18, 2022, Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) offered an amendment to prohibit “moneys from this bill to be used to fund or enforce the White House’s COVID vaccine mandates on the American people for the duration of” the continuing resolution. In his floor speech in support of his amendment, Marshall, a physician, stated, “Whether to receive the vaccine or not is a personal choice. It should not be mandated via unconstitutional Executive actions…. Make no mistake, these vaccine mandates are not about public health or science. If they were, the White House would recognize the 92 percent of Americans … who already built up immunity to this virus between vaccines and natural immunity.”
The Senate rejected Marshall’s amendment on December 2, 2021 by a vote of 48 to 50 (Roll Call 476). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the Constitution does not grant the power to any branch of the federal government to force citizens to submit to vaccinations.
