AUSTIN, Texas — This week, failed and flailing Gov. Greg Abbott came out with his latest attempt to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic: an executive order banning any entity, including private businesses, from mandating vaccines for their workers.
AUSTIN, Texas — This week, failed and flailing Gov. Greg Abbott came out with his latest attempt to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic: an executive order banning any entity, including private businesses, from mandating vaccines for their workers.
It’s no surprise that after suing municipal officials over their COVID-19 protocols and banning local leaders from mandating masks, Abbott is continuing to do everything in his power to put Texans in danger during this pandemic. However, Abbott’s vaccine mandate ban (and his push to have similar legislation jammed into the current legislative session only a week before its closure) is also a reminder that Texas Republicans, self-proclaimed champions of small government, are rewriting the playbook on government overreach — specifically when it suits their political agenda.
For this week’s Throwback Thursday, we would like to remind folks that Abbott’s executive order is a blatant reversal from his office’s claim less than two months ago that “ Private businesses don’t need government running their business ” — and that this flipflop is one of many instances of hypocritical government overreach by the Texas GOP, including:
- Republicans’ hijacking of the battlecry “my body, my choice” amid the worst Republican assault on abortion rights in decades
- Republicans’ insistence on censoring education on racism and sexism, all while
- Abbott’s allocation of nearly $2 billion in taxpayer dollars to border enforcement that is squarely outside of state jurisdiction
- Abbott’s meddling in the legislative process by adding session after irregular, taxpayer-funded session to the calendar to jam his agenda into law
Texas Democratic Party Co-Executive Director Jamarr Brown issued the following statement:
“With his attempt to ban business owners from mandating vaccines, Greg Abbott has once again shown us where his true priorities lie. Abbott doesn’t care about keeping Texans safe from COVID. He doesn’t care about whether business owners can make their own choices about what’s best for them. What Abbott cares about is pushing his extreme agenda ahead of a tough primary election — and trampling on Texans’ rights to play to his rightwing base, small government be damned.
“We should be following the science and making sure small businesses, schools, and other entities across the state can do what they need to do to protect their communities. Instead, Abbott is flipflopping on his promise to business owners — and interfering once again with our path to recovery from this pandemic. More than 65 percent of Texans support vaccine mandates. Our governor is out of touch and on a power trip, and we are sick and tired of this. With just a year to go till the November 2022 elections, Texas Democrats are organizing every single day to defeat Abbott and finally get Texans the strong leadership they deserve.”
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