Sen. Manchin to vote with Senate GOP to scrap Biden's vaccine mandate

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is once again set to break from party ranks and vote against the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for private businesses.

Manchin said Thursday that he would join all 50 Republican colleagues in backing a resolution challenging President Joe Biden's workplace vaccine mandate.

Manchin stated, "In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and as the new Omicron variant emerges, I will not vote to shut down the government for purely political reasons. There is too much at stake for the American people."

"But let me be clear, I do not support any government vaccine mandate on private businesses. That's why I have co-sponsored and will strongly support a bill to overturn the federal government vaccine mandate for private businesses," he said.

Manchin added that the federal government should "incentivize, not penalize" private businesses to get staff inoculated, while noting that he himself has received both COVID-19 vaccine doses and a booster shot. "I continue to urge every West Virginian to get vaccinated themselves," Manchin emphasized.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), who is leading the effort, also made a statement, telling the public he hopes more Democrats will rally behind the cause:

"President Biden's unconstitutional vaccine mandate for private businesses is not a partisan issue: it jeopardizes the freedoms and livelihoods of Americans in all 50 states, and I hope that more Democratic Senators and Representatives will follow Senator Manchin's strong lead and stand up against this federal overreach that will wreak havoc on our recovering economy and trample on the rights of millions of Americans," said Braun, according to local outlet WBIW.