Gov. Kevin Stitt and 14 other Republican governors say President Joe Biden’s vaccine tenure adds to the national labor shortage and associated supply chain problems, further increasing the level of inflation on higher in 30 years and associated damage to consumers.

“Bringing goods to market is a fundamental basis of our open economy, and under the Biden administration, the US supply chain is in crisis,” the governors said in a joint letter.

Using Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations to make COVID-19 vaccination a near-universal condition of employment in the United States, governors said Biden was “putting more jobs in danger as we strive to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘noting that 7.4 million people are unemployed while 10.4 million vacancies remain vacant, including an estimated shortage of 80,000 truck drivers , which is “a record high for the trucking industry”.

“Disruption due to supply shortages increased by 638% in the first half of 2021 for critical products including semiconductor chips, plastics and cardboard,” the letter said. “The delay of ships arriving from Asia to North American ports has dropped from 2 p.m. in June 2020 to 13 days in September 2021. Supermarkets receive 40% of their orders, up from 90% before the pandemic. About 40% of US shipping containers go through deadlocked west coast ports, yet our east coast ports remain open for business. The problems are exacerbated by critical shortages of containers, chassis and drivers to unload and move goods. “

Where possible, governors have said they will reduce state regulations that hamper the transport of supplies, and called on the Biden administration to suspend “outdated federal regulations” that restrict the supply of labor. work of truckers.

“In addition, we call on President Biden to suspend the heavy federal mandate for COVID-19 vaccines for all employees in the private sector, especially for the trucking and transportation industry, so that driver shortages are not further exacerbated by an additional barrier to employment, ”the governors said.

The letter also called on Biden to “stop attempts to raise taxes, spend billions more on taxpayer dollars and increase debt, which will cripple the U.S. economy and spur inflation, causing high rates of inflation. extremely high consumer prices for American families “.

Those who signed the letter alongside Stitt included the governors of Tennessee, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska , North Dakota, South Carolina, Ohio and Texas.

U.S. Senator James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, also condemned the vaccination warrant in recent comments on the U.S. Senate floor, describing the chaos the mandate creates in the workforce. Lankford noted that around 80% of people aged 12 and over are now vaccinated, and many more have natural immunity as they have recovered from COVID-19.

“The administration established its own law to say that if Americans don’t get the vaccine, those remaining 20 percent who didn’t get the vaccine are 12 or older, if they don’t get the vaccine, that administration is going to find a way for them to lose their jobs, which for a lot of people will also mean losing their insurance, their retirement and sometimes their home, “Lankford said.” But the president’s response is, “I don’t care. form. “”

Lankford noted that officials at an Oklahoma electrical engineering company, which has federal contracts, said the company could lose 50 of the 250 workers if the mandate is implemented.

“Fifty of the company’s 250 people have said they don’t want to be vaccinated, and are therefore losing their jobs, and this company will not be able to fulfill its federal contract,” said Lankford. , “Because hiring 50 more electricians is not that easy right now with the economy we are in now.”