The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted 52 – 48 to overturn President Joe Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate for private businesses with more than 100 employees.
The vote came one day after a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Georgia, issued a 28-page ruling suspending the mandate nationwide.
Republican Senators seeking to overturn Biden’s mandate used a law called the Congressional Review Act (CRA) which allows Congress to overturn federal regulations and requires just a simple majority vote in both the Senate and House.
Two Democrats — Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) — joined all 50 Republicans in voting for the measure, which would ban the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from enforcing the mandate.
In a press conference before the vote, Senate Republicans said they believe there will be enough Democrats in the House of Representatives to get a vote, despite Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) claim that “we’re not going to go for their anti-vaxxing.”
If all Republican House members vote for the CRA, it would take five Democrat votes to approve.
Read more: Senate Votes to Repeal Biden Vaccine Mandates for Employers
