A group of Republican lawmakers led by lawmaker Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced a bill Feb. 8 that would reinstate troops fired for failing to comply with the military's mandate for the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Service Rehabilitation Act "would ensure that U.S. servicemen and women in uniform are not fired because they refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine and that those who have already been discharged can return to military service," a statement from Republican office.
Chip Roy's office noted that hundreds of "military members on combat readiness" have been separated from the Armed Forces as a result of the order, which was announced by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in August 2021.
"Worse, the Ministry of Defense (COMING"Many medical and religious exceptions have been denied, forcing the members of the service to choose either their faith or their livelihood," he said.
The bill would prohibit the use of federal funds to claim a member of the Armed forces receive the COVID-19 vaccine and require Austin to reinstate members of the Armed Forces who wish to return to service with the same rank.
It will also ensure that Austin counts the time members of the service who have left the military due to retirement benefits and eliminates any side effects due to the refusal to receive the COVID vaccine. 19.
The co-sponsors of the bill are Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.), Michael Cloud (R-Texas), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Van Taylor (R-Texas), Bill Posey (R-Fla). ), Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) And Bob Good (R-Va.).
"Because of President [Joe] Biden's mandate for power-hungry, against the science of the COVID-19 vaccine, hundreds of valuable members of the US military are being forced to leave our military, taking with them years of experience, careers of selfless sacrifice. and life dreams for military service. "This is strategically stupid, deeply anti-American and completely unacceptable," Roy said in a statement.
The lawmaker added: "I am introducing the law on the restoration of services to ensure that the brave men and women of our armed forces are not fired because of this erroneous mandate - whether for medical, religious, conscientious or any reason - and that the already dismissed can return to the honorary service of their country with the time of their service and their files legally restored ".
The move came as the Air Force on Tuesday became the second U.S. military branch to approve religious exemptions to the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine, although the nine approved so far represent only a fraction of the more than 6.400 requested by troops. of the Air Force.
The Marine Corps is the only other military service to provide religious exemptions from the vaccine, allowing three so far. On January 13, it granted religious exemptions to the military mandate for the COVID-19 vaccine, almost two months after the expiration of the vaccination period for active Marines.
The Army and Navy have not approved any religious exceptions. As of January 26, the Army had rejected 266 requests for permanent religious exemptions.
The Navy in its last report, on February 2, noted that 118 departures have been made so far for the denial of the COVID-19 vaccine. The court documents dated February 3 note a total of 4.095 initial requests, the Navy has denied 3.278 and 285 are under consideration.
As of Feb. 3, a total of 3.458 requests for religious exemption from the 3.539 original requests have been rejected by the U.S. Marine Corps, while 81 requests are pending, according to court documents.
The U.S. Coast Guard has denied 578 of the 1.308 initial requests for religious exemption from the vaccine order, and 715 requests are under consideration.
The military has been criticized for failing to grant religious exemptions, with members of Congress, the military and the public questioning whether the review process was fair. In total, the services have received more than 14.000 requests for religious exemptions.
Austin and military leaders have argued that the vaccine is critical to maintaining military readiness and the health of the force. And all services have now either fired staff for refusing the vaccine or put in place a system to do so.
