House Republicans Press DOD for Answers on Vaccine Mandate Reversal and Damage Done
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Subcommittee on Military Personnel Chairman Jim Banks (R-IN) are pressing the Pentagon for answers on its plan to implement the COVID vaccine mandate reversal, the damage the Biden administration’s mandate did to the military, and reinstatement of troops to the military.
Rogers and Banks said the administration has been “slow” to provide answers.
In a letter sent to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on February 8, 2023, Rogers and Banks said:
A letter of December 23, 2022, requested ‘your plan to implement this statutory requirement.’ Your four-sentence reply to the letter on January 26, 2023, failed to include any implementation plan. Additionally, staff has repeatedly asked for answers to many COVID-19 rescission questions critically important to the retention and recruitment of men and women in each of the armed service.
House and Senate Republicans were successful last year in using the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act to force the Biden Pentagon to reverse its COVID mandate, which required all servicemembers to be vaccinated or face being kicked out of the military. More than 8,400 troops were involuntarily kicked out.
Now, Republicans are trying to make sure the Pentagon is following through with the mandate reversal, amid stories that the DOD is still discriminating against unvaccinated troops.
Austin, in a memo rescinding his vaccine mandate, said commanders could still make decisions based on vaccination status, such as deployments, and left it unclear whether the DOD would force out members who did not apply for a religious or medical exemption when the mandate was in effect from August 2021 through January 2023.
“Are potential military recruits required to submit an accommodation request to avoid being forced to receive the COVID vaccine?” Rogers and Banks asked in their letter.