By Congressman Kevin Kiley – February 3, 2023

California’s COVID vaccine mandate for K-12 students is being withdrawn, having never taken effect. To all the parents who joined together and fought back: We won. To Gavin Newsom: You lost.

Newsom, of course, originally wanted to force the mandate on schools last year. But he “delayed” it after we killed a similar bill at the State Capitol. At the time, I said the delay was just a face-saving maneuver and the mandate would ultimately be scrapped.

That has now happened. The Public Health Department just acknowledged that the end of the State of Emergency on February 28 will render Newsom’s order null and void. This is why we fought so hard to terminate the emergency: all COVID mandates end with it.

What must not end is accountability. America needs to know what has happened to California. I gave a speech on the House Floor this week comparing the Newsom Nightmare with the much better outcomes of pro-freedom states during the COVID era.

Elsewhere at the U.S. Capitol this week, we had a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Biden Border Crisis. I took the opportunity to expose California’s unique contribution to that crisis: the Sanctuary State disaster.

My own Subcommittee on Workforce Protections will hold its first hearing soon. American workers have faced arbitrary lockdowns, unscientific mandates, and attacks on independent contracting. As Committee Chair, I’ll fight to restore economic freedom.

We’re winning big victories. And we’ve only just begun.