Republican lawmakers on Tuesday claimed victory over the woke Pentagon for axing President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for U.S. troops.
The National Defense Authorization Act, a massive bill spanning more than 4,400 pages and doling out $847 billion in spending, contains a one-sentence provision that says Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will rescind the vax mandate within 30 days of the bill taking effect.
Republicans cheered on social media.
“The end of President Biden’s military COVID vaccine mandate is a victory for our military and for common sense,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted. “Last week, I told the president directly: It’s time to end the COVID vaccine mandate and rehire our service members.”
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan added, “Democrats kicked soldiers, sailors, and airmen out of the military because of the #COVID19 vaccine. Republicans fought back. And now the vaccine mandate is set to be rescinded in the NDAA. Freedom!”
Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie tweeted, “The military COVID vaccine mandate will end! … Next steps: end all COVID vax mandates (healthcare workers and foreign visitors), and reinstate all members of military wrongfully terminated due to vax.”
“I’m glad the military’s COVID vax mandate is about to end in the NDAA. I worked hard to get this done. Now we should reinstate everyone who was pushed out of the military wrongly, and we should end the remaining covid mandates,” Massie added.
Texas Rep. Chip Roy noted, “The @freedomcaucus has been fighting to #EndVaxMandates for 2 years – this is a giant step, at least within the military. The #NDAA remains highly flawed – and we need reinstatement, cleared records, & anti-retaliation language… but HOPEFULLY this step stays in the bill.”
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Talyor Greene offered plenty of cautions about other parts of the bill. But as for the mandate, she said, “The good news about the NDAA is that the Covid-19 vaccine mandate is out.”
The GOP lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee added, “HUGE WIN. The #COVID19 vaccine mandate is OUT of the NDAA for our troops!”
As The Free Press reported, the White House “signaled its unhappiness” over what was described as “a severe blow” to its vax-mandate policies and politics.
The paper framed the bill’s language as a formidable challenge for Biden because the NDAA is one of the rare pieces of legislation that draws strong bipartisan support and is one lawmakers from both parties like to promote.
Congressional Democrats helped that process by backing away from Biden’s vaccine mandate.
Yet not all is rosy with the bill.
As the Times reported, “The final version did not include reinstatement or compensation for thousands of active-duty and reserve service members who were ousted for refusing to get the vaccine or whose applications for a religious exemption were denied by the Pentagon.”
As we reported on Tuesday, the Biden has booted more than 8,200 troops from the service for refusing the jab.
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