President Biden continues to be in a bind on both the international front with Russia’s Putin amassing troops at the Ukraine border and domestically with the Senate poised to repeal his vaccine mandate on private businesses.
There’s no way to determine how long the drama from Russia will last but the Senate situation should begin to show results very soon if the vote proceeds on Wednesday. According to some pundits, the repeal will pass given the tactic of using a procedural tool called the Congressional Review Act that permits Congress to overturn rules created by federal agencies. Only 51 votes are required to block this mandate.
All the Republicans in the Senate, as expected, are on board and there appears to be a number in the House ready to support the repeal after the vote in the Senate. Two Democrats, Sen. Joe Manchin of W. Virginia and Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, seem ready to cast a vote for the repeal.
“We certainly hope the Senate, Congress will stand up to the anti-vaccine and testing crowd,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a recent press conference. “We’re going to continue to work to implement these. If it comes to the president’s desk, he will veto it.”
If left to the general population the vaccine mandate is a no-go, and this may be a deciding factor for Democratic members of Congress.