The Supreme Court to hold a hearing on Biden's vaccine and testing mandate

The Supreme¹ Court to hold a hearing on Biden's vaccine² and testing mandate³

Transcript⁴

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Karen Harned of the National Federation⁵ of Independent Business, about its opposition⁶ to OSHA's vaccine and testing requirements for private employers.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hold a hearing on the Biden administration's vaccine and testing mandate. This is the rule that tells private companies, hey, if you have a hundred or more employees, then your workers need to get vaccinated⁷ or get tested weekly for the coronavirus. Industry trade groups have asked the court to block the requirement, which is set to take effect next month. Those groups include the National Federation of Independent Business. We're joined now by the executive director of NFIB's Small Business Legal Center. Karen Harned, thanks for being here.

KAREN HARNED: Thanks for having me, Rachel.

MARTIN: Well, why does your group oppose the mandate? Let's just start there.

HARNED: Right. Well, small businesses are continuing to manage unprecedented⁸ challenges like staffing shortages, supply chain disruptions and the ongoing¹⁰ COVID variants¹¹, including omicron. And as a result, this mandate is just pouring gasoline on what already is a fire that they are experiencing, trying to get their businesses back up and running after the last two years of this pandemic.

They are going to lose employees as a result of this mandate. And even just dealing¹² with the testing and masking requirements for those that choose not to get vaccinated is going to be particularly problematic, especially for those employers that just have 100 to 500, you know, employees or have those employees spread out in multiple locations.

MARTIN: Well, let me ask you - because so much - the bulk, in fact, I dare say - of the economic woes¹³ are because of the pandemic, so by refusing to take the vaccine, I mean, by extension, the economic problems aren't going to resolve themselves.

HARNED: Well, again, you can't - at the end of the day, people are going to decide what they're going to do. And we do not even think, honestly, this is about whether or not to take the vaccine. We think this is about the legality of the whole construct of how this was done. Honestly, OSHA does not have authority to do such a mandate out of the agency itself for a virus that we all know and have experienced for two years does not just live in workplaces. It is ubiquitous. It is everywhere.

And so we are very concerned about the precedent⁹ of OSHA - OSHA being the one issuing this mandate, we are very concerned about the situation that OSHA is doing this without notice and comment because of all of the issues that we are experiencing, again, in the economy and just the flexibility¹⁴ that small business owners need to run their business that have not been considered when it comes to this mandate.

MARTIN: So if the requirement came from an agency other than OSHA, would you be OK with it?

HARNED: Well, we actually argued that this is, you know - when you look at the law on this, there is really no - the states are the ones that are charged with regulating public health and safety, not the federal government. So we even think there's a question as to whether or not there's even a federal role here. But surely, if there is a federal role, it needs to come from Congress and not an elected agency. And if it was an agency, again, I don't even think it can be OSHA because they're not tasked with public health. We've been hearing from CDC and HHS on those issues for two years. So...

MARTIN: And you don't think even - just in closing, you don't think even the requirement to test - you have a problem even with that, not just with the vaccine, but testing instead.

HARNED: Well, when it comes to - I mean, it is good that there is that option. Do not get me wrong. That is helpful. That said, we think that OSHA in having this requirement and doing this itself, the way they did it, without doing a notice and comment and the fact that it's...

MARTIN: Yeah.

HARNED: ...OSHA and not CDC is illegal.

MARTIN: Karen Harned with the National Federation of Independent Business, thank you for your time.

HARNED: Thank you.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

3 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

4 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

5 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

8 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

9 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

10 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

11 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

12 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

14 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。