Rep. Murphy to Newsmax: Biden's Push on Mandate Further 'Overreach'

The White House's demand that its latest COVID-19 vaccine mandate should move forward, despite an appeals court order to freeze it, is another sign of continued overreach from President Joe Biden and his administration, Rep. Greg Murphy said on Newsmax Tuesday.

"Biden even said it with some of his other directives that we don't know if it's constitutional or not, but we're going to do it anyway," the North Carolina Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report." "If you had a book of 10 things on how to destroy a country, they're writing it very, very well."

A federal appeals court in New Orleans on Saturday, citing constitutional questions, ordered a temporary block on a rule developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that requires companies employing over 100 employees to either ensure that their workers have been vaccinated or have nonvaccinated workers undergo weekly COVID-19 tests.

Monday, the administration argued in a response to the stay that the vaccine mandate for private employers is a matter of life-and-death, and that there is no reason to stay the rule now on a rule that won't take effect until Jan. 4.

Stopping it would "cost dozens or even hundreds of life per day," the lawyers for the Justice and Labor departments said.

White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during Monday's press briefing that companies should be working toward complying with the rule and making sure their employees are vaccinated.

Murphy, a physician, insisted on Newsmax that he believes the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, but the decision to get them should be between a doctor and a patient rather than determined by a government mandate.

He added that he's concerned that the OSHA rule could also drive companies out of business that did survive the pandemic, and that if that happens, people will lose their health insurance and quit seeking medical treatment if they're ill.

"We have something called the social determinants of health, where poverty has shown that you have worse outcomes because you're sick more often," said Murphy, adding that in the mandate efforts being ordered to save the country, "they're going to drive people into poverty … they'll create more illness, more death."

Murphy also discussed the passage of the infrastructure bill and the ongoing discussion over Biden's "Build Back Better" spending bill, after 13 House Republicans voted for infrastructure, giving the Democrats a legislative win.

"This infrastructure bill, only 10% or 15% of it was true infrastructure," said Murphy. "This opens the door to this massive reworking of government with the reconciliation bill."

The infrastructure bill would not have passed without the Republicans' votes, and that will usher in the much higher spending bill, he added.

"Actions have consequences, and these Republicans have allowed the Democrats to rework the entire federal government," said Murphy.

He predicted the spending bill won't "make it out of the House," but if it does, it won't "pass muster in the Senate."

Murphy also spoke out about the White House considering a plan to shut down the Line 5 oil pipeline from Canada to Michigan, particularly with the cost of heating expected to skyrocket this winter.

"They have shown time and time again that they're just tone-deaf," said Murphy. "I think their mantra is they believe if we starve the Americans out of, you know, fossil fuels then they revert to everything you know, wind and solar. That's just not gonna happen, especially overnight."

He further predicted that with people not being able to afford their higher heating bills, "we're going to see people dying, especially in some of the urban cities, freezing to death this winter. It's just a tragedy again. The Biden administration simply does not think about the consequences of its actions."

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