Gov. Eric Holcomb, AG Todd Rokita slam Biden for vaccine mandate

Republican elected officials from Indiana are slamming President Joe Biden’s decision to mandate vaccinations or weekly testing for private sector employees, calling the actions “authoritarian.”

Gov. Eric Holcomb emphasized his support for vaccines, but argued it's not the state or federal government's role to mandate them.

"The announcement from President Biden is a bridge too far," Holcomb said in a statement. "Private businesses should be able to look at their own mission, their staff and their goals and make the decision best for them that will keep their doors open. I believe it is fundamentally a citizen’s right to choose whether or not to get the vaccine. While I wish everyone would get the vaccine, we are a country built on this exact type of freedom.”

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Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, said he is preparing for potential legal action.

“My team and I, along with other like-minded attorneys general, are reviewing all legal action on how to stand against these authoritarian actions by the Biden administration,” Rokita said.  “We will be prepared to file suit if Biden seeks illegal actions restricting Hoosiers' liberties.”

Even U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon, a heart surgeon and vocal proponent of the vaccine, criticized Biden’s mandate on Twitter.

“Today’s decision by President Biden to mandate vaccinations for roughly 100 million Americans is an overreach of federal power and undermines confidence in the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines,” the Republican representing southwest Indiana tweeted. “I encourage all Americans to get vaccinated, however, I firmly believe this medical decision should be made between a patient and their doctors, not by a federal mandate.”

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Mike Braun, who has repeatedly declined to share his vaccination status, said the mandate serves to “violate the individual liberty this country was built on.”

Biden on Thursday unveiled his administration's most aggressive and sweeping plan to combat a resurgent coronavirus pandemic, mandating that private sector employers with more than 100 employees ensure workers are vaccinated or  tested weekly. 

The president is asking the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop a policy rule for businesses to carry out the mandate. Biden's six-part plan, which also includes vaccine requirements for federal workers, health care providers receiving Medicare and Medicaid and staff of federal Head Start programs, would affect more than 100 million workers, USA Today reports. 

"Many of us are frustrated with the nearly 80 million Americans who are still not vaccinated," Biden said during a speech Thursday announcing the vaccine requirements. "This is not about freedom from personal choice, it's about protecting yourself and those around you."

Democrats, meanwhile, criticized Holcomb and Republicans, arguing that they have failed to follow Biden's strategy to get Indiana out of the pandemic under a "science-based game plan."

"Now is the moment to stop checking partisan boxes, and it’s up to Indiana’s CEO — Eric Holcomb — to do his job,” Lauren Ganapini, executive director of the Indiana Democratic Party, said in a statement. “President Biden provided a blueprint once again to help Indiana put COVID-19 in the rearview mirror. If Governor Holcomb refuses to show leadership on the pandemic, he’ll show he cares more about the Indiana Republicans’ extreme partisanship and future ambitions than saving lives.” 

The recent surge of new COVID-19 cases is being driven by the highly contagious delta variant. Economists, Democrats and legal experts have said that businesses would likely play a key role in curtailing the virus's spread and limit its impact on commerce. 

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 A federal mandate could provide cover to private sector employers caught in the  crosshairs of the deepening politically polarizing health crisis.

While local employers such as Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co and Roche Diagnostics have already implemented vaccine mandates for their employees, companies such as Columbus-based Cummins Inc. said they would not mandate vaccinations but would abide by third-party government mandates. 

The Indiana Chamber of Commerce, a statewide business advocacy group, has adopted the position that it's best to get as many people vaccinated against COVID-19 as possible. 

Earlier this summer, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Wellness Council of Indiana launched  "Covid Stops Here," a recognition campaign that lauds employers for reaching a workplace vaccination rate of at least 70%. 

The campaign, which kicked off about two weeks ago, bestows Olympic-style designations of bronze, silver, gold and platinum on businesses that achieve vaccination rates of 70% or greater. Brinegar said more than 200 companies of varying size have signed up to participate in the program statewide, with roughly half reaching 100%

In addition to the campaign, the Indiana Chamber urges employers to help facilitate vaccinations by offering paid time off for workers to get vaccinated, hosting vaccine sites, or arranging with health care providers for a block of time for groups of employees to be vaccinated. 

Biden's mandate, however, goes beyond that by mandating proof of vaccines and weekly negative tests, said Kevin Brinegar, the Indiana chamber's CEO and president.

"We believe that it should be the employer's choice as to whether or not to mandate vaccinations for both employees — and customers because there are restaurants now that are requiring proof of vaccinations for indoor seating," he said. "That should be their choice. The president's order yesterday goes farther than that."

While Brinegar expects legal challenges to arise, he said the chamber would encourage employers to follow the law if the mandate prevails as it does for regulations governing the use of helmets, safety goggles, and certain manufacturing and construction environments.

The economy is still reeling from efforts to curtail transmission of the virus, taking its deepest dive last year since the Great Depression. Forced business closures, travel restrictions and lockdowns stymied commerce and left millions of Americans jobless at the pandemic's onset in 2020.

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Despite state economies reopening and  Americans resuming "normal" activities, many businesses — particularly those in the hospitality and service industry — continue to struggle and complain of labor shortages as a lingering effect of the pandemic. 

"I can tell you many employers are frustrated, and in some cases even angry, that the pandemic is persisting," Brinegar said. "They view this as a byproduct of the large percentage of people — Hoosiers and Americans — who've chosen not to get vaccinated. We know from the department of health that overwhelmingly we're in a period now where this a pandemic of the unvaccinated."

Hospitals are overwhelmed, he said. ICU units are filled with mostly unvaccinated individuals. Deaths are piling up. 

Read more:Amid surging delta variant, Holcomb orders hospitals to monitor capacity to treat patients

Still, some businesses are reluctant to mandate vaccinations, he said, out of fear of appearing heavy-handed. 

"They are concerned about morale problems," Brinegar said. "They are concerned about losing valuable employees during a period of low unemployment where people with skills are hard to find." 

And while some employers will not like the idea of the federal government telling them what to do and will push back, others may see it as a form of cover to impose vaccines they did not want to impose themselves. 

"I think there are others who will view this as: 'I can blame it on the federal government or I can blame it on the president. I'd really like to see all of my employees vaccinated, but I didn't want to impose that on them myself," Brinegar said. "Now it's being imposed by the president and the federal government. That may be considered to be a good thing."

The statewide chamber, he said, will continue to watch for the developments and provide members the most accurate and up-to-date information possible. Meanwhile, the Indy Chamber in Indianapolis declined to wade into the conversations already taking place Friday about Biden's mandate.  

"We don't have a formal policy on this mandate so we don't have a response in support or not because we're still working through this with our organization," said spokesperson Casey Cawthon. 

The chamber, she added, is supportive of employers encouraging vaccinations, noting that it issued earlier this month the Business Equity for Indy vaccination employer playbook, an online manual that provides guidance for employers to increase vaccination rates. 

The playbook is focused on six recommendations that include employers, providing paid time off for side effects recovery, hosting on-site vaccine clinics for workers and the local community, and encouraging employers to understand the "legal guardrails" of vaccine incentives and mandates. 

Call IndyStar reporter Kaitlin Lange at 317-432-9270. Follow her on Twitter: @kaitlin_lange.

Contact IndyStar reporter Alexandria Burris at aburris@gannett.com or call 317-617-2690. Follow her on Twitter: @allyburris.

Call IndyStar reporter Amelia Pak-Harvey at 317-444-6175 or email her at apakharvey@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmeliaPakHarvey.