‘The President has no authority’: Governors react to president’s vaccine mandate

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - President Joe Biden announced a new plan to combat COVID-19 in the United States Thursday that drew quick criticism from the governors of all three Mid-South states.

The president said the Department of Labor is working on an emergency rule that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure that their employees are vaccinated.

Biden says the order will require workers to show proof of vaccination or at least one negative COVID-19 test a week.

He said this is not a political issue about freedom or personal choice.

“We cannot allow these actions to stand in the way of protecting the large majority of Americans who have done their part and want to get back to life as normal,” President Biden said.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in a Twitter thread Biden’s comments Thursday pitted the vaccinated against the unvaccinated and businesses against employees.

For a fight that requires working together, a lot of cynical and divisive edicts came out of the White House today pitting the vaccinated against the unvaccinated, businesses against employees, and the federal government against states.
— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) September 9, 2021

Lee still touted the vaccine as an answer to the pandemic but said mandates are wrong.

To be clear: the vaccine is the best tool we have to combat the pandemic but heavy-handed mandates are the wrong approach.
— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) September 9, 2021

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a tweet that the president does not have the authority to require Americans to get vaccinated.

The President has no authority to require that Americans inject themselves because of their employment at a private business. The vaccine itself is life-saving, but this unconstitutional move is terrifying. This is still America, and we still believe in freedom from tyrants.
— Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) September 9, 2021

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted that he supports vaccination efforts, but he believe this order is not the right answer and takes away freedom of business.