[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 212 (Wednesday, December 8, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S9011]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              S.J. Res. 29

  Mr. MARKEY. I rise today in opposition to the latest effort by 
Republicans to undermine Americans' health and safety. COVID-19 remains 
a grave danger. We have lost more than 775,000 Americans to this virus, 
and cases are rising yet again.
  Despite this clear and present danger, millions of workers across 
this country have been showing up to their jobs every day since this 
pandemic began. Essential workers, nurses, doctors, janitors, security 
guards, retail employees, and countless more were never able to work 
remotely. They can't Zoom to the cash register, checkout, or the 
driver's seat of a bus. But these workers faced and continue to face 
on-the-job exposures and the hazards those exposures entail.
  We are lucky to have tools to mitigate these dangers for workers. 
Testing works. Vaccines work. Booster shots work. Masks work. And as 
these new variants begin circulating around the globe and as vaccine 
effectiveness begins to wane, for those who were among the first 
vaccinated, especially for older Americans and the immune compromised, 
it is incredibly important that everyone get their boosters now.
  Let me just say that again: If you are eligible, don't wait. Get your 
booster shot now. If you have two shots already and you got them 6 
months ago, you are not fully vaccinated. If you don't have your third 
shot right now, you are not fully vaccinated. If you have two shots 
already, and it is more than 6 months after you got those first two 
shots, just understand that, when you say ``I am vaccinated,'' it is 
not accurate. You need the third shot.
  Not only do the vaccines work, but vaccine requirements work. They 
increase vaccination rates and improve worker safety. We have seen in 
Massachusetts that, as the State government implemented vaccine 
requirements, vaccination rates approached 95 percent of State 
employees.
  We aren't just the Bay State; we are also the ``Brain State.'' We 
listened to what scientists and medical experts are telling us.
  So to protect workers, the Occupational Safety and Health 
Administration, or OSHA, at the Department of Labor, published a rule 
known as an emergency temporary standard--an emergency temporary 
standard, or ETS. That emergency temporary standard will keep employees 
safe by requiring large companies to ensure that each of their workers 
is fully vaccinated.
  And if employees cannot or will not be vaccinated, they simply must 
test negative for COVID-19 at least once a week before coming into 
work. It is as simple as that: Get vaccinated or get tested.
  The ETS also requires that employees protect their coworkers by 
wearing a mask in the workplace. This requirement is not onerous. In 
fact, it is flexible for all workers to require employees to provide 
paid time off to workers to get vaccinated and ensures that paid leave 
is provided for recovery from any side effects of the vaccinations that 
keep employees from being able to work.
  These are simple, commonsense rules that will save lives--testing, 
masks, vaccines, boosters. OSHA estimates that its emergency temporary 
standard will prevent 6,500 people from dying and 250,000 people from 
having to go to become hospitalized over just a 6-month period.
  But while Democrats and the Biden Administration are doing everything 
possible to maintain an economic and health recovery, Republicans are 
doing everything they can to undercut science and confidence in this 
administration. This latest attempt--trying to overturn the OSHA 
emergency temporary standard and threatening to undermine the health 
and safety of millions of workers--is outrageous and the worst kind of 
political stunt.
  We mandate vaccinations for our children so that they can be healthy 
and go to school. We mandate vaccinations so our servicemembers are 
protected in the line of duty. Let us protect our workers in our 
workplaces so that they can stay healthy and stay on the job.
  But there is a terrible irony here from my Republican colleagues. At 
the exact same time that the Grand Old Party is bemoaning this OSHA 
worker protection effort as a so-called mandate, they are celebrating 
mandating government control over women's reproductive freedom at the 
Supreme Court. They would rather mandate government control over a 
woman's body than mandate worker safety.

  If we want to end this pandemic, we need to get as many people 
vaccinated as we can. Unfortunately, Republicans see a political 
benefit to prolonging the pain and the suffering from the virus and 
preventing vaccinations where possible.
  This is wrong. This is immoral. And I urge my colleagues to support 
the OSHA emergency temporary standard. I urge my colleagues to support 
that emergency temporary standard and oppose this effort by Republicans 
to overturn this critical, life-protecting regulation, which is on the 
books, if we can keep it there.
  So we need to ensure that we are saying to every family: We have your 
back. We are going to be protecting you. We are going to make sure 
those safeguards are in place.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.