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Friend,
I invite you to read this September update regarding several issues I am working on in Congress and Kentucky.
This month marked the 10th Anniversary of the Central Ohio River Business Association (CORBA). It was my pleasure to join CORBA’s anniversary celebration on the Purple People Bridge to offer remarks recognizing the occasion.
President Biden has announced his intention to place COVID-19 vaccine mandates on businesses with at least 100 employees. During a recent appearance on her FOX Business show, I told Kennedy that Biden’s unconstitutional mandate amounts to a “war on frontline workers and first responders.” You can watch our exchange below.
Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate is illegal, unscientific, and hurtful. In the House Judiciary Committee, I laid out the case against the vaccine mandate during the debate over an amendment offered by Rep. McClintock that attempted to defund it. I voted for the McClintock amendment, and I am including a video of my remarks in this newsletter.
The vaccine mandate Biden is proposing may not be the only mandate Washington D.C. intends to impose on the American people. Dr. Fauci has expressed support for vaccine passports for airline travel, and the Biden Administration has not ruled them out for domestic travel. In the Transportation Committee, I offered an amendment to prohibit vaccine passports. It’s not a free country if you can’t travel freely within it.
I don’t promote vaccine hesitancy; I promote vaccine mandate hesitancy. I don’t think anybody should be forced to take the vaccine, but vaccine mandates that ignore natural immunity are not scientific. Since I’ve already recovered from COVID-19, I won’t take the vaccine until I see evidence that it will improve upon my natural immunity. But don’t listen to politicians like me; talk to your doctor and make health decisions like these for yourself.
In September, I had the opportunity to meet with members of the Optimist Club of Covington. We discussed several topics, including the $1.2 trillion infrastructure legislation that came out of the Senate. This bill contains too much wasteful spending, and I provided the Optimist Club with numerous examples of the legislation’s waste of taxpayer dollars.
I was honored to speak in recognition of the Central Ohio River Business Association’s (CORBA) 10th anniversary. The anniversary celebration was held in Newport, Kentucky, on the Purple People Bridge. To mark the occasion, I was joined by Scott James, Chairman of the Board for CORBA, Robyn Bancroft, Strategic Initiatives Manager for the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI), and Eric Thomas, Executive Director of CORBA, who served as the event’s Master of Ceremonies. It’s hard to believe that the Central Ohio River Business Association is only ten years old, especially when one considers that the Ports of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, by tonnage, is ranked as the busiest inland port in the United States.
CORBA’s work to promote river commerce, river transportation, and the maritime community for the Ports of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky is essential for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional district. Our district has 280 miles of the Ohio River. In fact, 14 of the 20 counties in the 4th district have the Ohio River within them. The Ohio River forms our northern border, and culturally and economically, it ties our different counties together.
Adam Smith, the famous economist who wrote “The Wealth of Nations,” greatly influenced men like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Smith famously wrote that there were three legitimate roles of the federal government: to provide for the national defense, institute a system of civil justice, and support public works and infrastructure.
The first infrastructure bill Congress ever passed was legislation that provided for removing sandbars and snags from the Ohio River, and Jefferson and Adams appear to have had no issue with spending money on that project. As one of its earliest acts, Congress provided funding for what is underneath the Purple People Bridge right now.
With this in mind, when I first got to Congress, I asked to be on a committee where the federal government has a nexus in the spending of money and where we have a way to pay for that spending. I received an assignment to the Transportation Committee, and I’ve been on that committee ever since.
Congratulations again on ten years of successful advocacy on behalf of the Ohio River, CORBA! I look forward to continuing to work together with you on the river’s infrastructure needs.
In case you missed it when it aired, I told Kennedy that vaccine mandates are a “war on frontline workers and first responders.” Instead of threatening frontline workers and first responders’ jobs, we should support these workers by respecting their right to decide whether to take the vaccine.
Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate is illegal, unscientific, and hurtful. In the House Judiciary Committee, I laid out the case against the vaccine mandate, and I voted for Rep. McClintock’s amendment to defund it.
Biden’s mandate is illegal. In fact, he knows he does not have the authority to force anybody to take the vaccine. That’s why he’s trying to convolute the situation by inserting an administrative agency and an employer between himself and the people forced to take the vaccine. But doing that does not make his action legal.
The vaccine mandate is unscientific because it does not appear to recognize natural immunity due to prior infection. Studies show that a person with natural immunity has twenty-seven times greater protection than the protection gained by someone who has received two doses of the vaccine. Suppose someone has better protection from natural immunity acquired from a prior infection. Why should that person be forced to accept the risk of developing a condition like myocarditis from the vaccine?
Finally, Biden’s mandate is hurtful. It is a war on women, particularly working women of childbearing age, because they will be disproportionately affected by his mandate. Many women will choose to leave their professions instead of receiving the vaccine, which will hurt the economy.
I am a member of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, and I am concerned that the Biden Administration is considering mandating vaccine passports for travel. I recently offered an amendment in this committee that would prohibit vaccine passports. It’s not a free country if you can’t travel freely within it.
After the debate concluded, I requested a recorded vote on my amendment. As shown in the photo below, every committee Democrat voted against my amendment. This means that there isn’t a single Democrat on the Transportation Committee willing to speak or vote against vaccine passports.
| It was a pleasure to speak with members of the Optimist Club of Covington this month. Among those in attendance were Optimist Club of Covington President Jeannine Bell Smith, Past-President Dan Humpert, Kenton County Sheriff Charles Korzenborn, and Kenton County Circuit Court Clerk John Middleton. The Optimist Club meets every Wednesday at noon in Crescent Springs at Pee Wee’s Place. These meetings are open to the public and everyone is invited to attend. I began my remarks to the Optimists by discussing the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill under consideration in Congress. I am on the Transportation committee, and I support infrastructure spending because it has a legitimate constitutional role and a federal nexus. Unfortunately, this $1.2 trillion bill includes too much ridiculous, non-infrastructure spending on items like providing high-speed internet to prison inmates and public funding of electric car charging stations. We also discussed Afghanistan. As much as any Congressman or Senator, I have been an advocate for getting out of Afghanistan. Ten years ago, we killed Osama Bin Laden, and our mission to disrupt terrorist organizations in Afghanistan should have ended then. For the past decade, however, we have been engaged in nation-building. The arrogant belief that we could turn Afghanistan into a Western Civilization kept our troops there for too long and created a blind spot in the Biden administration. Should Republicans regain the House majority, I am confident that there will be hearings examining Biden’s horribly managed withdrawal. The topic of mask and vaccine mandates was also of interest to the Optimists. I thought our Commonwealth was cleared of the Beshear virus when Matt Bevin took over as Governor after Steve Beshear. It appears, however, Kentucky has come down with the Andy variant of the virus. Symptoms of the Andy variant include: -Loss of balance (in your bank account).-Shortness of breath (from masks).-Impaired learning (closed schools).-Confusion (masks off, masks on, masks off). The Constitution is for tough times, not for easy times. Mask mandates are unconstitutional, illegal, unscientific, illogical, and unsafe. Further, mask mandates lead to vaccine mandates. If you accept one, get ready, because the next one is coming. Finally, I had the pleasure of taking questions from those in attendance. The Optimists’ questions covered a range of national and local issues, and I was pleased to have an opportunity to answer them. In Liberty, |
 Thomas MassieMember of Congress |