[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5092 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5092

  To prohibit the Federal Government from requiring any citizen to be 
vaccinated, including Federal agencies from requiring its employees to 
   take any vaccination, without the citizen being fully advised in 
writing of all known potential risks from the vaccine and consultation 
  with a physician followed by the voluntary informed consent of the 
                    citizen, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            August 24, 2021

  Mr. Gohmert (for himself, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Duncan, and Mrs. 
 Miller of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
    to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the 
Committees on the Judiciary, and Oversight and Reform, for a period to 
      be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit the Federal Government from requiring any citizen to be 
vaccinated, including Federal agencies from requiring its employees to 
   take any vaccination, without the citizen being fully advised in 
writing of all known potential risks from the vaccine and consultation 
  with a physician followed by the voluntary informed consent of the 
                    citizen, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that:
            (1) The Constitution does not permit a vaccine mandate, 
        including a mandate by the executive branch imposed on Federal 
        employees as a condition to maintain the employment they need 
        to feed their families.
            (2) It is unconscionable for any entity to use force or 
        coercion to compel individuals to take a vaccine, and even more 
        egregiously unconscionable for a vaccine to be administered 
        under emergency use authorization (EUA) without adequate 
        warnings of known potential risks.
            (3) Mandating vaccines, including experimental vaccines, 
        does not fall within any of the executive authorities, 
        according to article II, section 2 of the United States 
        Constitution.
            (4) The Constitution reserves ``police power'', for the 
        protection of health, safety, and morals, to the States.
            (5) Even though a State has police power, strict scrutiny 
        is still applied when laws infringe on fundamental liberties, 
        and in such instance, government action is only constitutional 
        when it both achieves a compelling goal and is narrowly 
        tailored or the least restrictive alternative to achieve that 
        goal.
            (6) Over the last year, the Federal agencies have not only 
        encouraged telework, but have even mandated it, regardless of 
        whether an individual employee assessed the office environment 
        to present an unreasonable known risk to his or her health, and 
        regardless of whether the conditions at home were suitable for 
        productivity or work. In certain cases, States have done the 
        same with their government workforces. Arbitrarily requiring an 
        individual to get vaccinated or lose his or her employment 
        cannot possibly be the least restrictive alternative to a 
        public health goal at the Federal or State level. Individuals 
        who object to taking a vaccine or an experimental vaccine, for 
        any reason, do not impose an inordinate known risk to the 
        workplace, when every individual has the liberty to make health 
        decisions for themselves, including vaccination, masking, 
        social distancing, or other possibly preventive measures.
            (7) In our constitutional republic, the Federal Government 
        must exercise power only in keeping with the strict limits as 
        enumerated in the Constitution.
            (8) The Government is never in a better position to assess 
        the wisdom and necessity of a particular medical intervention 
        than the individual and his or her own physician; failing to 
        acknowledge this most self-evident of truths is anathema to the 
        principle of self-governance on which our Nation was founded.
            (9) This individual right has been steadfastly upheld by 
        human rights advocates not only in our own Nation, but also 
        around the world.
            (10) Even the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social 
        and Cultural Rights (CESCR) states in no uncertain terms that 
        health freedoms include the right to control one's health and 
        body and ``. . . the right to be free from interference, such 
        as the right to be free from torture, non-consensual medical 
        treatment and experimentation.''.
            (11) Article 21 ``Health-Informed Consent'' prepared by the 
        International Disability Caucus affirms this ancient truth 
        based in the natural law as follows: ``Thus, health is not a 
        public good to be pursued independent of the will of each 
        individual, but requires respect for the will of the individual 
        person with respect to his or her own well-being.''.
            (12) Should the Biden administration, any agency of the 
        Federal Government, or any State or locality of this union 
        pursue the path of forced vaccination, they are choosing to 
        intentionally disregard the U.S. Constitution, natural law, 
        human rights norms, and the will of the individual in making a 
        decision that most directly affects his or her own health and 
        bodily integrity.
            (13) This discussion, necessitated by the dangerous actions 
        and rhetoric of the left in America, further compromises the 
        long-enshrined legal requirement of informed consent.
            (14) There is currently no Federal law requiring informed 
        consent because the decisions that would implicate it have 
        correctly been understood as matters to be determined at the 
        State and local level.
            (15) Left-wing extremists in the United States have 
        threatened individuals in such a way that it is now necessary 
        to pursue a Federal informed consent law to protect our 
        citizens.
            (16) Informed consent must be voluntary.

SEC. 2. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS PROHIBITED FROM REQUIRING ANY 
              CITIZENS TO BE VACCINATED.

    (a) In General.--The Federal Government, including Federal 
agencies, are prohibited from requiring any citizen or employee to be 
vaccinated, without the citizen being fully advised in writing of all 
known potential risks from the vaccine and consultation with a 
physician followed by the voluntary informed consent of the citizen.

SEC. 3. INFORMED CONSENT REQUIRED FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF EVERY 
              DOSING OF A VACCINE IN THE UNITED STATES.

    (a) In General.--Informed consent shall be required from every 
individual who receives any dose of any vaccine administered in the 
United States. This requirement applies to FDA-approved vaccines and 
also vaccines authorized for emergency use.
    (b) Definitions.--
            (1) Informed consent is defined as the voluntary, explicit 
        written agreement to proceed with vaccination, made by the 
        individual receiving vaccination and with complete knowledge of 
        all relevant facts, including known risks involved or any 
        available alternatives. All known potential risks involved in 
        accepting or rejecting such vaccination must be disclosed. 
        Informed consent is based on the moral and legal premise of 
        individual autonomy: The individual has the right to make 
        decisions about the individual's own health and medical 
        conditions and treatment.
    (c) Exceptions.--
            (1) In the case of those who are under 18:
                    (A) State law should apply regarding the necessity 
                of informed consent in the case of FDA-approved 
                vaccines.
                    (B) There is no exception to the requirement 
                provided in subsection (a) for vaccines authorized for 
                emergency use. Each individual must be able to give 
                informed consent according the laws of the applicable 
                State.
    (d) Any offense of this section shall be fined under title 18, 
United States Code.
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