U.S. passes bill to rescind military COVID vaccine mandate: ‘Time to update’ – National | 24CA News
A invoice to rescind the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. navy and supply practically $858 billion for nationwide protection handed the House on Thursday as lawmakers scratch off one of many ultimate gadgets on their yearly to-do listing.
The invoice offers for about $45 billion extra for protection packages than President Joe Biden requested, the second consecutive yr Congress considerably exceeded his request, as lawmakers search to spice up the nation’s navy competitiveness with China and Russia.
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The House handed the invoice by a vote of 350-80. It now goes to the Senate, the place it’s anticipated to move simply, then to the president to be signed into regulation.
To win bipartisan help for the invoice, Democrats agreed to Republican calls for to scrap the requirement for service members to get a COVID-19 vaccination. The invoice directs Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to rescind his August 2021 memorandum imposing the mandate. Only days earlier he voiced help for preserving the mandate in impact.
Rep. Adam Smith, Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, informed colleagues that the choice to impose the vaccine mandate was the correct name on the time.
“It saved lives and it made sure that our force was as ready as it could possibly be in the face of the pandemic,” Smith mentioned.
But, he mentioned the directive solely required the preliminary vaccination and by now that safety has worn off.
“It’s time to update the policy,” Smith mentioned.
Republicans mentioned the mandate damage recruiting and retention efforts. Rep. Mike Rogers, prime Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, mentioned he intends within the subsequent Congress to look at who was adversely affected by the mandate, “so we can try to revisit that and make them whole to the extent desirable.”
More than 8,000 active-duty service members had been discharged for failure to obey a lawful order after they refused the vaccine.
“Some of the folks who have moved on are not going to want to come back,” mentioned Rogers, who will turn into chairman of the Armed Services Committee within the subsequent Congress.
Smith mentioned he opposed efforts to reward these service members who disobeyed a navy order.
“Orders are not optional in the United States military,” Smith mentioned. “And if Congress expresses the opinion that they are, I cannot imagine anything that would more significantly undermine the good order and discipline within our military.”
Military leaders have argued that troops for many years have been required to get as many as 17 vaccines with a purpose to preserve the well being of the power, notably these deploying abroad. Recruits arriving on the navy academies or at primary coaching get a routine of pictures on their first day _ akin to measles, mumps and rubella _ in the event that they aren’t already vaccinated. And they routinely get flu pictures within the fall.
Service leaders have mentioned that the variety of troops who requested spiritual or different exemptions to any of these required vaccines – previous to the COVID pandemic – was negligible.
The politicization of the COVID-19 vaccine, nevertheless, triggered an onslaught of exemption requests from troops. As many as 16,000 spiritual exemptions have been or are nonetheless pending, and solely about 190 have been accredited. Small numbers of short-term and everlasting medical exemptions have additionally been granted.
While the rescission of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate has generated a lot consideration, it takes up one paragraph of what’s a 4,408-page invoice.
The protection coverage laws is essential in shaping the navy’s future. It units the utmost variety of service members approved to be within the varied branches of the navy. It authorizes cash for particular main weapons packages and it establishes pay and advantages. This yr’s invoice authorizes cash to help a $4.6% pay increase for navy members and the Defense Department’s civilian employees.
The invoice additionally authorizes $800 million in further safety help for Ukraine and requires a report on whether or not any gaps exist within the oversight of help to that nation. That addresses the issues of some Republicans who’ve been calling for a extra detailed accounting of how the cash has been spent.
The laws obtained broad help from House members of each political events. Opposition got here from 45 Democrats and 35 Republicans.
Some Democrats mentioned the invoice approved an excessive amount of protection spending.
“While working families are being crushed by inflation, we shouldn’t be spending $45 billion MORE than the President requested,” tweeted Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y.
Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, mentioned stripping the vaccine mandate didn’t go far sufficient.
“We must rehire these heroes with mandatory backpay,” he mentioned of those that had been kicked out for refusing the vaccine order.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the Pentagon’s COVID vaccination coverage, however mentioned Biden would decide the invoice “on its entirety.”
“What we think happened here is Republicans in Congress have decided that they’d rather fight against the health and well-being of our troops than protecting them,” Jean-Pierre mentioned. “And we believe that it is a mistake.”
The protection coverage invoice additionally has a wide range of environmental measures, akin to laws to spice up wholesome choral reefs, improve marine mammal analysis and remove shark fins gross sales.
Lawmakers failed in some cases to connect their priorities to the invoice, akin to an effort to forestall federal banking regulators from imposing penalties on banks that supply companies to cannabis-related companies. Also neglected was laws from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V.., to hurry permits for pure gasoline pipelines and different power tasks, together with a pipeline challenge in his house state and Virginia.
Associated Press author Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
