Republican lawmakers on Wednesday announced their intention to formally challenge President Biden’s mandate on vaccines for private companies, citing the right of Congress to review those executive orders a few weeks before the mandate takes effect.

All 50 Senators and more than 160 House Republicans say they support the use of the Congressional Review Act, which gives lawmakers a mechanism to override an executive rule if passed.

“The broad support that our Congressional Review Act resolution garnered sends a clear message to President Biden: the American people are fed up with government mandates and control,” said Rep. Fred Keller, the Republican of Pennsylvania who heads the government. ‘effort in the House. , said Thursday.

“President Biden’s illegal vaccine tenure is crippling for job creators and Main Street workers. We will continue to do our utmost to oppose this authoritarian regime, ”he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Washington Times’ request for comment, but has strongly defended the legality of its actions in the past in the face of the continuing public health threat posed by COVID-19.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s “Temporary Emergency Standard” released earlier this month would require private companies with 100 or more employees to obtain “acceptable proof” of the immunization status of their workforce and “Keep records and a list of the immunization status of each employee.”

Unvaccinated employees would be required to wear masks indoors from early December and undergo weekly tests the following month. The mandate would cover more than 84 million employees and could result in fines of up to $ 14,000 for those who fail to comply.

The warrant was included in the Federal Register and officially released to the Senate on Tuesday, beginning a 20-day review period by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. A disapproval measure would be eligible for a floor vote after the review period.

“President Biden’s vaccine mandate is an unconstitutional invasion of what should be a personal medical decision for every American and an affront to the rights of 80 million American workers,” Sen. Mike Braun, Republican of Indiana said Thursday. leading the effort in the Senate. . “Today my fellow Republican and I will officially challenge this federal overshoot, and I urge the Senate to vote in favor of this disapproval resolution when it comes to a simple majority vote in the filibuster test in early December. “

The mandate has been strongly rejected by several large employers and officials in Republican-controlled states since it was announced earlier this month.

At least 34 lawsuits have been filed to challenge the warrant.

American Trucking Association CEO Chris Spear, who announced last week that his group would challenge the warrant in court, said Mr Biden and OSHA had overstepped their authority with the warrant. He also said the rule would have a devastating impact on the economy, especially amid a growing supply chain crisis and a growing shortage of more than 80,000 truckers.

“This standard arbitrarily chooses winners and losers, and puts employers in an untenable position to force workers to choose between work and their private medical decisions, which is something that cannot be allowed,” Mr. Spear in a statement last week.

“We told the administration that this mandate, given the nature of our industry and the makeup of our workforce, could have devastating effects on the supply chain and the economy and they have unfortunately chose to go ahead despite these warnings, ”he said. “So we are now, unfortunately, forced to seek the annulment of this warrant in court. “

Other large employers hailed the mandate, and the White House defended the push by pointing to companies that have imposed rules and seen their vaccination rates exceed 90%.

Earlier this month, a New Orleans federal appeals court temporarily suspended the warrant, but the Biden administration demanded that the court stop before making a final decision and that the case be consolidated with other lawsuits and reallocated through a court lottery.

A federal court panel on Tuesday assigned the case, along with several others, to a Cincinnati appeals court.

Members of the Conservative House Freedom Caucus said on Wednesday they would oppose any government funding legislation, including the upcoming interim spending bill to keep government open, while separate vaccine mandates for federal employees ordered by Mr. Biden remain in place.

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, Republican members said Mr. Biden’s tenures “would cause loss of livelihood and endanger Americans.”

“No member of Congress exercising authority to control “stock market power” under Article I of the US Constitution should vote to fund an executive branch that demands unconstitutional vaccine warrants on US citizens in the private sector , or stupidly and wrongly commissioning the COVID-19 Vaccination from government personnel, ”the lawmakers wrote.