Rep. Tim Burchett, who has introduced a bill to exempt essential workers from federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates, told Newsmax Monday that congressional Democrats, and "several Republicans as well," are "gutless" for not signing onto the legislation that will keep people from losing their jobs.
"I'm talking to individuals all over the place," the Tennessee Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "They are scared to death. They don't want to take the jab. They don't understand what's going on, and you know, individuals ought to be able to decide for themselves."
Burchett has sponsored the "Keep COVID Heroes Employed Act" in the House, with Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., presenting it in the Senate, and he told Newsmax its "ridiculous" to risk even more labor shortages at this time.
"The president's folks have just stated that while we fire all these truckers that won't hurt our supply chain," said Burchett. "I think the American public understands much, much more than the man sitting in the Oval Office does."
Meanwhile, a deadline of Jan. 4 has been set for companies with more than 100 employees to require workers to be vaccinated, and Burchett said, when asked if another mandate will come for small businesses, he also didn't think Congress would pass a multitrillion-dollar "build back broker" thing either, referring to the Democrats' spending bill.
"I don't know about you, but I haven't had a lot of people call me and say Hey, let's spend $80 billion, so we can hire 87,000 new IRS agents to go after hard-working Americans who deposit $600 in their checking account," said Burchett. "That's out of control."
He added that companies are complying with the mandates because they just can't fight them anymore and they don't want to be shut down.
"Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered, and that's what they're looking at," said Burchett. "They don't want to fight it. Unfortunately, the American public is caught between a rock and a hard place. When their employers say do it, they're stuck with it.
"I get calls from people I don't even know and they are terrified that they're going to lose their jobs. We're going into a Christmas season. The price of fuel is up. It's getting colder outside, and these folks are rightfully scared — and they should be."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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