From WWW.FOXNEWS.COM
Sen. Marsha Blackburn and other GOP lawmakers are calling for additional steps to protect unvaccinated members of the military who were terminated from the armed forces now that Congress is poised to roll back the Biden administration’s military COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Blackburn, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital that the language she successfully pushed for inclusion in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was designed to combat the military’s “problem with recruiting and retention.”
“I’m very grateful that we were able to build bipartisan, bicameral support and get this into the body of the bill,” she said. “Getting this issue off the table and bringing some common sense to bear around the vaccine mandate was a very important thing to do.”
The Pentagon has 30 days after the passage of the NDAA to terminate the vaccine mandate. Blackburn also said that once the mandate is officially rescinded, Congress can focus on ensuring those troops who were discharged are “made whole” and have their benefits restored.
“There are many that have been removed,” Blackburn said citing the thousands of service members who have been discharged across all military branches for refusing the vaccine. “And some of those had already had COVID. Some of those had medical exemptions that were denied. And we are continuing to work through this issue, and to be certain that people are made whole will be important. But right now it is getting this lifted, and once we have done that, we will be able to move forward.”
“We are pleased that the final conferenced bill includes language mirroring our amendments’ efforts to protect troops from being fired due to Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate without fair appeal and to the harm of service readiness,” said GOP Sens. Blackburn, Roger Marshall, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mike Braun, Deb Fischer, Joni Ernst, Tommy Tuberville, Mike Crapo, Steve Daines, John Hoeven and James Risch after NDAA text was released Tuesday evening.
The military is suffering from low recruitment and retainment, in large part due to its own restrictive policies, including the vaccine requirement.
U. S. Coast Guard members who are nearing 20 years in military service but have not complied with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate due to religious objections are now being terminated just before they gain full access to promised military pension and retirement benefits.
Other lawmakers are speaking up about this, saying Congress needs to take additional action.
“These heroes deserve justice now that the mandate is no more. The Biden administration must correct service records and not stand in the way of re-enlisting any service member discharged simply for not taking the COVID vaccine,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a statement…. (Read more)
