Legislation to exempt Border Patrol agents and others deemed as essential workers from having to follow federal COVID-19 vaccine regulations is being worked on, Sen. Marsha Blackburn told Newsmax Tuesday.
"If you were deemed an essential employee during the pandemic, and you showed up and did your work, then you would not be hit with the vaccine mandate," the Tennessee Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
The exemptions would cover several categories, including Border Patrol agents, police officers, transportation and airline employees, and healthcare workers, all of which would be hit hard with people choosing to leave their jobs rather than be made to get the vaccines, said Blackburn.
The senator recently toured sites at the U.S.-Mexico border and found that there is not only a crisis continuing, but that the Biden administration isn't allowing the Border Patrol to do its job, let alone ordering them to get vaccinated, said Blackburn.
"Not only are they saying you can't do your job, but they're removing resources," including surveillance technology that former President Donald Trump put in place, said Blackburn.
The Biden administration is also removing some funding that is needed for overtime for the Border Patrol, she said.
The senator also discussed a tweet she posted to call out Vice President Kamala Harris on her actions where the border is concerned, commenting that Harris is not doing anything about the situation because "an open border is the Biden border policy."
"Joe Biden has never been to the southern border," she said. "He and Vice President Harris need to go meet with these ranchers and property owners. They need to go out on patrol like I did with the Border Patrol and talk to the Border Patrol and local law enforcement and the Texas Department of Public Safety and say, what do you need? How do we guarantee this border is secure. How do we stop these drug runners and these cartels? How was the best way to deal with them?"
However, the administration "will not even have a conversation with them," said Blackburn. "They are leaving this border open. It is being overrun."
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, FUBO and major OTT platforms like Roku, YouTube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV’s including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizio and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.