White House Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Jason
Miller disclosed in an declaration cited late on Monday by the
Justice Department that the government would be hurt on several
fronts if it cannot enforce the vaccine requirements.
"While most federal civilian employees are fully vaccinated,
hundreds of thousands of them are not vaccinated," Miller said in
the Jan. 28 declaration.
The government hires about 20,000 workers monthly and currently
cannot require them to be vaccinated, he added.
On Jan. 21, a U.S. judge in Texas ruled Biden could not require
federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and blocked the
U.S. government from disciplining employees failing to comply.
In September, Biden had issued an order requiring about 3.5 million
workers to get vaccinated by Nov. 22 barring a religious or medical
accommodation - or else face discipline or firing.
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Miller's declaration said as of Jan. 21, roughly 2% of the federal
civilian workforce "had neither affirmed they were fully vaccinated
nor submitted a request for or received an exception."
U.S. COVID-19 workplace safety protocols require unvaccinated
federal employees to submit to regular testing. Weekly testing
"could cost taxpayers on the order of $11 million to $22 million
each month, or $33 million to $65 million each quarter," Miller
wrote.
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![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/16/images/ads/current/heartland_lda_NOV2021.png) Tens of thousands of unvaccinated federal
employees do not have pending or approved
requests for exception and tens of thousands of
exception requests are pending, Miller wrote.
Last week, a U.S. appeals court declined to
block the vaccine ruling. The 5th Circuit Court
of Appeals will hear the case on March 8.
Miller said the ruling is forcing government
agencies to revise "reentry and post-reentry
plans and schedules" to include "setting up
expanded COVID-19 testing programs at agencies."
He added if the injunction remains in place "it
will imperil the federal government's ability to
protect the health and safety of the federal
workforce."
The Justice Department cited then-President
Ronald Reagan's 1986 executive order requiring
federal employees abstain from using illegal
drugs, both on and off duty, and argued the
president has "broad power to regulate the
federal civil service."
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Bill
Berkrot)
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