GOP pushback on employer vaccine mandate underway in states

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — President Joe Biden's mandate for many private employers to require their workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is facing a wall of opposition from state Republican officials who are passing laws and signing orders to exempt workers, threatening businesses that comply and preparing a legal fight over rules that were announced Thursday.

“This rule is garbage,” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, a Republican, said Thursday through a spokesperson. “It’s unconstitutional and we will fight it.”

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a statement that he intended to file a lawsuit Friday.

“The federal government does not have the authority to unilaterally force private employers to mandate their employees get vaccinated or foot the bill for weekly testing," Schmitt said in a statement.

States have been preparing for the requirement since Biden previewed it back in September. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements released Thursday call for companies with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated by Jan. 4 or be tested weekly. Failure to comply could result in penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation. Federal officials also left open the possibility of expanding the mandate to smaller employers.

Republican governors or attorneys general in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana and South Dakota said Thursday that they would file lawsuits against the mandate as soon as Friday.

"While I agree that the vaccine is the tool that will best protect against COVID-19, this federal government approach is unprecedented and will bring about harmful, unintended consequences in the supply chain and the workforce,” Indiana's Eric Holcomb said in a statement.

At a news conference, Florida'...