Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis threatened to challenge President Joe Biden's sweeping vaccine mandate in court on Thursday, warning that he would challenge any federal laws that could 'take away jobs' in the Sunshine State.
'We are going to contest that immediately. We think the state of Florida has standing to do it,' DeSantis said during a press conference at the Florida Department of Health at Lee County. 'We also know businesses that we’re going to work with to contest it.'
DeSantis said the lawsuit would be filed in the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
He argued that the issue went beyond COVID health precautions and could have ripple effects on his economy.
'Let's not have Biden come in and effectively take away — threaten to take away — the jobs of people who have been working hard throughout this entire pandemic,' DeSantis said.
'I am offended that a police officer could potentially lose their job.'
Earlier this week, DeSantis' fellow Republican Governor Greg Abbott of Texas signed a state law banning private businesses from enacting vaccine mandates in response to the president's order.
The GOP pushback is coming the same week as the federal government moved to finalize vaccination rules that would affect thousands of private businesses across the country.
DeSantis said he would challenge Biden's sweeping vaccine mandate in the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals
In September Biden announced that all federal employees, and healthcare workers at hospitals receiving federal funds, would no longer be able to opt for weekly testing and would have to be vaccinated against COVID to keep their jobs.
He also ordered the Labor Department to draw up rules mandating all private companies with 100 or more employees either enact vaccine rules or require employees to submit to weekly COVID testing.
Those guidelines could be finalized as early as next week, according to NBC News.
On Tuesday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration submitted the proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget.
In all the new rules affect roughly 100 million people, about a third of the entire US workforce.
The plan immediately drew Republican outrage. DeSantis and the governors of South Dakota, Arizona, Texas and others have argued that vaccination should be a choice and threatened to defy the president's orders.
'I know Biden is trying to force this on everybody. One, I think it’s your choice, I don’t think you should get fired over this issue, and we want to protect people’s jobs, but two, it is absolutely is going to have a negative impact on the economy,' DeSantis said on Thursday.
Earlier this week Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a state law banning vaccine mandates
He appeared to allude to Biden's troubles with a lackluster September jobs report, soaring inflation and supply chain disruptions in claiming a vaccine order would add further strain to the US economy.
'I just think it's fundamentally wrong to be taking people's jobs away, particularly given the situations that we see ourselves facing with the economy,' the
