OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — On Thursday, the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced new rules which stated employees at companies with 100 or more employees will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 or get tested for the virus weekly. Leaders of Nebraska and Iowa both say they are ready to challenge the mandate.
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts called the mandate “draconian,” called it “an abuse of federal power" and said the state will fight back.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Petersen said, “The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly declared that regulation of healthcare matters, including compulsory vaccinations, falls uniquely within the authority of the state, not the federal government,” said Attorney General Peterson. “For the first year and a half of the COVID-19 pandemic, both the Trump and Biden Administrations recognized this. Yet now the Biden Administration is attempting to override state authority by using an executive order to mandate COVID-19 vaccines. By announcing an OSHA rule that is 490 pages long in its preprint form, it is clear that the Biden Administration is trying to create new law through executive order. This Administration has left us no choice but to go to court to protect constitutional boundaries of power and the 44% of Nebraska workers that fall under this unconstitutional mandate.”
Iowa has also filed a lawsuit, challenging the mandate.
The suit says, “This mandate is unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise. The federal government lacks constitutional authority under its enumerated powers to issue this mandate, and its attempt to do so unconstitutionally infringes on the States’ powers expressly reserved by the Tenth Amendment.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said, “I believe the vaccine is the best defense against COVID-19, but I also firmly believe in Iowans’ right to make healthcare decisions based on what’s best for themselves and their families, and I remain committed to protecting those freedoms. President Biden should do the same.”
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