With the help of Democratic Senators Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Republican Senators were able to pass a resolution to defund and repeal the private employer vaccine mandate supported by President Joe Biden, NBC News reports.
The 52-48 vote damages a significant part of the Biden plan to combat the spread of the coronavirus as the nation girds itself for the oncoming Omicron variant, reportedly a more contagious strain than the Delta variant.
The mandate requires employers with at least 100 people on payroll to have a policy in place for employees to be vaccinated or submit to weekly tests. As Biden has pointed out, employers including Fox News already have similar or more stringent policies in place.
The resolution will have a difficult, though not impossible, path through the House, and if it survives that, it will certainly face a veto by the President.