Vaccine Mandates

The Senate passed an $858 billion defense spending bill on Thursday that would end the Defense Department’s mandate for troops to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Biden administration had opposed efforts to include the vaccine mandate repeal in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, but Republican negotiators were successfully able to include language nixing the 2021 directive by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in the bill’s final language.

House and Senate lawmakers on Tuesday night unveiled plans for a compromise defense authorization bill which would boost the military budget by 8% over fiscal 2022 levels and rescind the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for service members.

The $858 billion plan (which includes roughly $817 billion in Department of Defense spending) also includes plans for a 4.6% pay raise for troops starting next month and nearly $19 billion in extra funding to deal with extra inflation costs on construction, fuel prices and other military purchases

Congress is poised to force the Pentagon to end the military’s coronavirus vaccine mandate under compromise legislation to authorize funding for the Defense Department, a major capitulation for Democrats who championed the policy despite sharp controversy in the ranks over its implementation.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said Tuesday night that the Biden administration’s COVID vaccine mandate for the U.S. military will come to an end.

The statement from McCarthy comes as House Democrats are reportedly set to defy President Joe Biden by joining Republicans to jettison the requirement for military service members to get the vaccine.

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.

House and Senate lawmakers on Tuesday night unveiled plans for a compromise defense authorization bill which would boost the military budget by 8% over fiscal 2022 levels and rescind the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for service members.

The $858 billion plan (which includes roughly $817 billion in Department of Defense spending) also includes plans for a 4.6% pay raise for troops starting next month and nearly $19 billion in extra funding to deal with extra inflation costs on construction, fuel prices and other military purchases.

Congress has reached a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to pass the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which provides a total of $857.9 billion for national defense ($816.7 billion for the Department of Defense and $30.3 billion for national security programs within the Department of Energy).

What it does NOT contain is a controversial COVID vaccine mandate. In fact, the NDAA "requires the Secretary of Defense to rescind the mandate that members of the Armed Forces be vaccinated against COVID-19."

A group of Republican senators said they would try to block the annual defense policy bill unless they’re allowed to vote on repealing the Defense Department’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

More than 20 Republican governors are calling on Congress to remove and prohibit the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. armed services.