Service members could see the end to the hotly debated vaccine mandate, but the bill's passage doesn't mean much for those already discharged for vaccine refusal.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) now sits on the President's desk for signature after the Senate approved the bill in a vote of 83-11 on Thursday. Alongside the largest military pay raise in two decades, the $858 billion package would also repeal the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for service members. The bill's passage spells the end of the vaccine mandate “not more than 30 days” after it goes into effect.
Both the White House and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin remain fixed in their opposition to the policy's end, emphasizing its essential role in military readiness. “We lost a million people to this virus,” Austin told reporters earlier this month. “A million people died in the United States of America. We lost hundreds in DOD. So this mandate has kept people healthy.” The White House labeled the provision “a mistake,” but has not indicated if President Biden would nix the entire bill over its inclusion. The COVID-19 vaccine is just one of many vaccines required for service members.
The military's vaccine mandate remains a politically charged issue, with most arguments against it ranging from recruitment challenges to government overreach. Retention and recruitment now pose a problem across the branches, even as service members are kicked out for vaccine refusal. The Army has kicked out 1,841 active duty soldiers for vaccine refusal, according to data cited by military.com. By Army estimates, it costs roughly $15,000 to bring in new recruits and another $50,000 or $75,000 to train them for their new job. The same branch fell short of its recruiting goal by about 25% for the fiscal year ending September 30.
Insertion of the provision into this year's NDAA was a shrewd move by its Republican backers since the annual bill has garnered bipartisan support for six decades. This week's passage in the Senate does not indicate bipartisan support for the mandate's repeal, however, reinforcing predominant party lines on vaccine mandates through the course of the pandemic.
While the vaccine mandate could soon be history, Republican lawmakers failed to obtain enough votes to support an amendment that would allow for the 8,000 troops already discharged to be reinstated with back pay. “The Biden administration must correct service records and not stand in the way of reenlisting any service member discharged simply for not taking the COVID vaccine,” House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said in a statement last week.
The mandate's rollback has long been in Republican crosshairs. But this calculated victory isn't full, and it isn't final. Congress may once again debate implications of the mandate's repeal next year with GOP majority in the House.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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