Sen. Cruz reintroduces bills to protect essential freedoms by blocking current and future government COVID mandates
US Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
February 1, 2023 | Washington, D.C.
US Senator Ted Cruz yesterday reintroduced a series of bills to stop the lingering authoritarian COVID-19 mandates and protect Americans from unconstitutional federal mandates around the COVID-19 pandemic.
“President Biden has stated that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, but he continues to wield powers granted during the pandemic, and he continues to desire draconian restrictions and mandates for the American people. Congress must step up and outright ban these mandates,” said Senator Cruz.
Bills introduced
No Vaccine Passports Act – Among its many provisions, the No Vaccine Passports Act would stop the federal government from establishing COVID-19 passports or working with third parties to establish their own vaccine passports, such as airlines or other global entities. This bill imposes a five-year prohibition on any government vaccine mandate for vaccines first authorized by the FDA through an Emergency Use Authorization. This bill also extends civil rights protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act to ensure that employees have the right to seek an exemption from any employment-based COVID-19 vaccine mandate. As millions of Americans receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Texas and at least 11 other states have already passed legislation preventing statewide vaccine passport mandates.
Doss’s Act – The GIVE LIFE Act (Doss’s Bill) is named after a teenage Texan who was denied a kidney transplant because he had not been vaccinated against COVID-19. Even after the pandemic has subsided, hospitals across the county continue to deny access to life saving transplants due to the patient’s COVID-19 vaccine status. The GIVE LIFE Act would prohibit denying an individual from donating an organ or receiving an organ transplant because of their COVID-19 vaccination status, and from COVID-19 positive caseloads in the patient’s locality from being used as a factor in determining eligibility to donate or receive an organ transplant. The GIVE LIFE Act would also prevent Medicare and Medicaid providers from denying services to individuals based on their COVID-19 vaccination status.
Ending Discrimination in COVID-19 Treatments Act – The Ending Discrimination in COVID-19 Treatments Act would mandate the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to require that providers do not engage in discriminatory practices such as considering someone’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, vaccination status, veteran status, political ideology, or speech when allocating COVID-19 treatments. This bill is in response to reports that states across the country were engaged in discrimination by using race and ethnicity as a factor in determining whether someone was eligible to receive monoclonal antibodies which are critical, life-saving therapies that aid in the recovery from COVID-19.
No Vaccine Mandates Act – The No Vaccine Mandates Act would require persons who administer a COVID-19 vaccine or booster to first obtain the patient’s informed consent and it protects the rights of parents by requiring the consent of a parent or guardian if the patient is a minor child. The bill also imposes civil penalties for violating a patient’s rights by vaccinating against COVID-19 without consent.
Parental Rights Protection Act – The Parental Rights Protection Act would protect the rights of parents by restricting recipients of federal funds, including from the Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services, from imposing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate affecting minor children. Further, this bill would prohibit vaccinating a minor child without the informed, written consent of a parent or guardian.
No Mask Mandates Act – The No Mask Mandates Act would prohibit future mask mandates on public property or public transportation. The bill also ensures that no taxpayer funds are used to enforce any federal mask mandate in response to COVID-19. Despite President Biden’s own statements declaring the COVID-19 pandemic over, his administration continues to fight in court for the authority to impose mask mandates on the American people.
Let Them Learn Act – The bill would protect students in Washington, D.C. public schools from the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The D.C. school vaccine mandate would prohibit unvaccinated schoolkids from 12 to 15 years of age from attending school in person. The mandate is discriminatory, as it is particularly harmful to black students who are vaccinated at a lower rate than other students. This bill is co-sponsored by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Lee (R-UT), James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Braun (R-IN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Rick Scott (R-FL).
Senator Cruz summarized the bills, stating: “We cannot allow the unprecedented actions taken by the federal government to set a new normal in which politicians and unelected bureaucrats force mandates upon the American people at the drop of a hat - all under the justification of protecting public health. My bills would ensure that the constitutional rights of Americans are protected and that President Biden cannot change his mind as the political winds blow.”
Background
In 2022, Senator Cruz introduced the AMERICANS Act to end the Department of Defense’s (DOD) August 2021 vaccine mandate and successfully fought for portions of his bill to be included in the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). As a result of Senator Cruz’s efforts, the Secretary of Defense formally ended DOD’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in January 2023.
Senator Cruz continues to fight for the rights of soldiers who were punished by DOD for not being vaccinated and, on January 23, 2023, introduced an updated version of the AMERICANS Act to provide remedies to soldiers harmed by the mandate, including by providing a right to reinstatement, the right to seek a change in discharge status, and the ability to receive back pay.