JEFFERSON CITY — On Friday, Sept. 10, Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, sent a letter to the governor urging him to call the members of the Missouri Senate and House of Representatives back to the State Capitol to fight the federal vaccine mandates announced by the president this past week.
The letter, signed by over half of the Republican senators in Missouri’s upper chamber, comes on the heels of the president announcing on Thursday that his administration would be passing a federal rule forcing private employers with 100 or more employees to vaccinate workers or face fines up to $14,000 per infraction. Additionally, the president’s administration is forcing all medical providers of Medicare and Medicaid to vaccinate their workforces and is threatening to fire federal workers who don’t get the vaccine.
“This move by the president and his administration is blatantly unconstitutional and un-American,” Sen. Brattin said. “This is nothing less than the federal government weaponizing its power to coerce the American people into forced-vaccination. It’s wrong, and we need to do something about it.”
Under the Missouri Constitution, the governor can call the General Assembly back into an extra legislative session, and with the annual Veto Session coming up this week, Sen. Brattin believes this is the right time for Senate and House members to work on a plan to push back against these federal mandates.
“Nowhere in the Constitution does it give the president the power to force private citizens to vaccinate,” Sen. Brattin said. “If we don’t act, hundreds of thousands of Missourians will be affected and a dangerous precedent will be set. The federal government has no power to do this, and it’s our job as the elected voice of the people of Missouri to put our foot down and tell the president this isn’t going to happen in our state and our country.”
Senator Brattin represents the 31st Senatorial District, covering Barton, Bates, Cass, Henry and Vernon counties. Senator Brattin resides in Harrisonville with his wife, Athena, and their five children.
For more information about Sen. Brattin, please visit senate.mo.gov/brattin/.