Republicans in Congress try to block Biden vaccine bonds

The US Senate voted Wednesday, December 8 against the vaccine obligations imposed by Joe Biden, an initiative of the Republican camp which will probably remain ineffective due to the possibility of a presidential veto.

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All Republican senators, joined by two Democrats from conservative states, voted in favor of a text specifically aimed at the executive order unveiled by the US president in September, which requires employees of companies with more than 100 people to be vaccinated against Covid-19. This measure, currently blocked in court, arouses an outcry from part of the American population: in the country of individual freedoms, the central power is viewed with suspicion by the conservatives.

"President Biden's absurd vaccination obligation is an abuse of power,"

thundered Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday.

Like him, many Republicans say they are in favor of the vaccine, but against its obligation.

had stressed before the vote Joe Manchin, elected from West Virginia and one of the two Democrats to have supported the initiative.

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The text is unlikely to succeed: it must still be validated in the House of Representatives, where the Democrats are in the majority, before arriving on the desk of Joe Biden, who could then veto it.

In parallel with this standoff between government, justice and elected officials, cities have decided on their own scale to impose vaccination.

The mayor of New York thus announced Monday that all employees in the private sector would soon be subject to an obligation to vaccinate against the coronavirus, which has already killed more than 790,000 in the United States.