[guest post by Dana]

Republicans want to punish independent-minded Republicans who have consistently spoken out against the Big Lie and the insurrection and have now chosen to serve on Nancy Pelosi’s Jan. 6 select committee. Given that Rep. Liz Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger have steadfastly refused to be cowed by their own party, they are certainly not going to be cowed by Democrats. What I think they will do is work hard to uncover the truth of Jan. 6 and follow every lead, no matter where it takes them. And that right there has the potential to be a very big and real problem for the Republican Party:

A “growing group” of House Republicans are pushing GOP leadership to penalize Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for agreeing to serve on the Democratic-led Jan. 6 select committee, according to a CNN report.

The push for retaliation strengthened on Sunday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Kinzinger, who has spoken out forcefully against former President Donald Trump in the past, had agreed to serve on the panel.

Last week, Pelosi rejected the selection of GOP Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio to join the committee investigating the Capitol riot, citing “concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members.”

The move upset GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who said that he would pull every Republican member from the committee and pursue a separate Jan. 6 investigation, an effort that Pelosi dismissed last week.

Sources told CNN that Kinzinger’s selection has put “a new level of pressure on McCarthy” from members, with criticism increasingly coming from rank-and-file members and not solely the most conservative wing of the party.

According to the report, an effort is brewing to remove Cheney and Kinzinger from their other committee assignments in retaliation for serving on the panel after Banks and Jordan were shut out.

Gee, why were Banks and Jordan shut out? Well, perhaps this is why:

Mr. Jordan said in December that there was “no way” Mr. Trump should concede the election, even after the Electoral College certified Mr. Biden’s victory.

“No. No way, no way, no way” Mr. Trump should concede, he told CNN in December, adding: “We should still try to figure out exactly what took place here. And as I said, that includes, I think, debates on the House floor — potentially on Jan. 6.”

Later that month, he participated in a meeting at the White House, where Republican lawmakers discussed plans with Mr. Trump’s team to use the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 to challenge the election outcome.

and:

Mr. Banks, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee…had questions “about the legality of some votes cast in the 2020 election” while steering clear of some of the former president’s more fantastical claims.

But like Mr. Jordan, he supported a Texas lawsuit seeking to toss out key Biden victories and voted to overturn the results in Congress.

Here is Adam Kinzinger today, as reported by Manu Raju:

Kinzinger says he’s not concerned about possibility of being punished by conference — and makes clear he’s willing to call in GOP members to testify about their conversations with Trump in the run-up to Jan. 6. Says “we are in a process to get the information wherever that leads”

“I want to know where the facts lead, and if that includes members that had a role in organizing or that they knew or that tried to cover up, that’s important,” Kinzinger told us

“If the conference decided or if Kevin decides they want to punish Liz Cheney and I for getting to the bottom and telling the truth, I think that probably says more about them than it does for us,” Kinzinger said.

Shouldn’t every American, regardless of their political persuasion, want to know where the facts lead, no matter the outcome? One would hope so. If there was a cover-up or elected members of Congress or even the former president himself played any part leading up to and including the events of Jan. 6, don’t we deserve to know who? Yes! And shouldn’t any and all found to have played a part in said events face the appropriate consequences? Absolutely!

PS And here I am nodding my head in agreement with Steny Hoyer:

No matter how actively McCarthy tries to tether Cheney and Kinzinger to Pelosi, who frequently appears in GOP attack ads, they both have strong conservative voting records to counter his attacks. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer noted as much, while arguing Monday that Cheney and Kinzinger are “real Republicans.”

“If anybody looks at the voting records of Mr. Kinzinger and Ms. Cheney, they will know that they haven’t voted with Speaker Pelosi except on the most bipartisan of bills,” Hoyer said. “These are people who come from conservative Republican districts who have represented Republican values. The difference is, and this is the key, they both believe in the truth. That ought not to be a partisan issue.”

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

Various health care groups have come out in support of mandatory Covid-19 vaccines for medical personnel:

Medical groups representing millions of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health workers on Monday called for mandatory vaccinations of all U.S. health personnel against the coronavirus, framing the move as a moral imperative as new infections mount sharply.

“We call for all health care and long-term care employers to require their employees to be vaccinated against covid-19,” the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association and 55 other groups wrote in a joint statement shared with The Washington Post. “The health and safety of U.S. workers, families, communities, and the nation depends on it.”

The statement — issued by many groups urging a mandate for the first time — represents an increasingly tough stance by the medical and public health establishment amid the sluggish pace of national vaccinations. It comes as new cases rip through the nation, driven by the hyper-transmissible delta variant. Confirmed coronavirus infections have nearly quadrupled in July, from about 13,000 cases per day at the start of the month to more than 50,000 now, according to The Post’s tracking. Hospital leaders in states such as Alabama, Florida and Missouri have implored holdouts to get vaccinated, citing data that the shots prevent hospitalizations and even death.

Surprisingly, according to the report, many health care workers remain unvaccinated despite the availability of the vaccine:

More than 38 percent of nursing workers were not fully vaccinated as of July 11, despite caring for patients at elevated risk of the coronavirus, according to data collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and analyzed by LeadingAge, which represents nonprofit nursing homes and other providers of elder care.

And then there is this:

An analysis by WebMD and Medscape Medical News estimated that 25 percent of hospital workers who had contact with patients had not been vaccinated by the end of May.

This seems like a no-brainer to me but given that we read this weekend that that only one in five of the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing homes were able to hit a goal…of vaccinating 75% of their staff by the end of June, apparently it isn’t a no-brainer. But when you are working with vulnerable populations, why would getting a Covid-19 vaccine not be mandatory?

The report spells out why there has not been a move to make the vaccine mandatory for medical personnel until now:

Health-care facilities generally have hesitated to mandate coronavirus vaccines for employees, noting that the vaccines have not yet received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration and citing the threat of lawsuits.

Also announcing mandatory Covid-19 vaccines today is NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio:

All New York City municipal workers — including cops, firefighters and teachers — will have to get vaccinated or submit to weekly coronavirus tests under a new mandate that Mayor de Blasio is expected to announce Monday, according to a City Hall spokesman.

The new mandate — which will cover roughly 300,000 city workers — is set to take effect Sept. 13, the first day of the school year, the spokesman said…

Last week, de Blasio ordered all public hospital and health workers in the city to either get vaccinated or undergo weekly tests starting Aug. 2.

Expectedly, DeBlasio got some pushback from union leaders:

Henry Garrido, executive director of District Council 37 of AFSCME, said, “If City Hall intends to test our members weekly, they must first meet us at the table to bargain.”

Garrido, whose union represents about 100,000 New York City employees across several departments, said weekly testing is subject to mandatory bargaining.

“New York City is a union town and that cannot be ignored,” he said in a statement.

Vaccination rates in NYC remain stuck, with more than 40% of the population still unvaccinated.

A few tibits:

More than 161 million Americans, or 49.1% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, per data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said last week that 97% of people currently hospitalized for the virus are unvaccinated.
Officials have said that about 99% of people who died from the virus had not been vaccinated.

Less than 9% of hospitals have required employees to get vaccinated, according to the American Hospital Association, which announced last week it supports mandating vaccinations for health care workers.

GET VACCINATED ALREADY!

–Dana