Q&A – Could Biden Mandate Vaccinations For Those On Government Programs? Part 1
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Parler & Twitter: @brianmuddradio
Today’s entry: Hi Brian, I'll keep this brief. Pres. Biden wants to use his leverage in is office of President to increase vaccination rates by mandating government employees, contractors, health care workers, and employers with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated.
If his motivation is sincere to increase vaccination rates, why is he not using his power to enforce these same mandates he is placing on employed persons, for some non-employed person or other individuals who receive federal benefits he and his party-controlled congress and cabinet does have some legitimate oversight for? For example, as citizens who receive TANF, SNAP (food stamps)/WIC, SSI, EITC, Section 8 housing, free reduced federal lunch programs, Pell grants, federal work study, federal entitlement payments, Medicaid, Medicare, etc.
Seems kind of a one-sided approach. Please offer your viewpoint on this.
Bottom Line: These are excellent points and questions. Several related questions have popped up since President Biden’s dictatorish vaccine mandate announcements last Thursday. One of the more commonly advanced in the name of illustrating absurdity is the realization that migrants (of which 87% have been determined to illegal immigrants based on the percentage who never report for legal proceedings along with the court determinations regarding legal asylum seekers) are allowed across the border and commonly offered transportation to desired end destinations. No vaccinations or COVID tests required. Yet tax paying American citizens are being threatened with their careers if they don’t bend to the threats advanced by the greatest example of executive overreach in modern-American history. The hypocrisy knows no bounds with the Biden Administration. But what about government programs as you’ve stated? If he can issue an edict for federal employees and private sector employees with larger companies, can he do for those using assistance programs?
I’ll start by saying he can’t lawfully do what he’s already espoused and to that end the actual language in the order he announced will likely reflect loopholes for religious and medical exemptions at a minimum. Even then, odds are the courts strike down whatever it looks like. With that said, let’s look at the differences between employment edicts and government assistance edicts. There is a clear distinction that answers your question.
When evaluating the host of government assistance programs you’ve referenced, there are numerous differences, some of which take considerations away from the federal government. In the case of programs like SNAP and Section 8 housing, while funds are provided by the federal government the programs are administered at the state and local level. In these examples, state rather than federal edicts would need to be applied to discriminate on the basis of vaccination status at the individual level. While there are likely many blue states that’d take the lead from President Biden, it’s a certainty Governor DeSantis and most if not, all Republican Governors wouldn’t. Programs like Medicare, Social Security and the Earned Income Tax Credit are different in that they’re administered directly by federal agencies. It’s with those programs that in theory the federal mandates you’ve asked about may apply. But would they/could they? I’ll address that in the second part of today’s Q&A.