U.S. senators Thursday approved, by an 83-11 margin, the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act that includes language abolishing COVID-19 military vaccine mandates.
The measure passed the Senate Thursday night after debating and voting down two amendments, according to a Roll Call report.
Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) proposed and amendment that required the Department of Defense reinstate members discharged solely for violating the Biden COVID-10 vax mandate. The reinstated service members would have received back pay and service time if the amendment was attached to the NDAA.
Another provision of their rejected amendment would have required congressional authorization before the Pentagon could reinstate the vax mandate.
Their amendment was defeated 54-40.
Johnson “agreed to shepherd the Johnson-Cruz amendment to a vote this week since Cruz was away from Washington,” a spokesperson for Cruz said, the Daily Caller report noted.
Cruz intends to file a similar amendment in the next Congress “to continue fighting for members of the Armed Services who were wrongfully discharged,” the spokesperson added.
Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Susan Collins (R-ME), Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) joined Democrats to defeat the amendment. Even if they had voted to approve, the amendment would still have failed along party lines, but by a smaller margin.
Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy explained his vote against the Cruz and Johnson amendment.
“These were direct orders from commanding officers,” Cassidy said in a statement to the Daily Caller. He referred to the order from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who implemented the vaccine mandate. “I voted to end the COVID vaccine mandate in the military, but it is not Congress’s place to intervene in the chain of command and set a precedent for military personnel to ignore direct orders.”
“We can’t take back the hardship that the military vaccine mandate has inflicted on countless servicemembers,” remarked Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) during NDAA debate. “But by adopting this amendment, we can recognize an injustice and take steps to restore those brave men and women who deserve our best.”
The defense secretary continues to defend the military’s vaccination mandate.
“The Secretary over the weekend was very clear in his comments that he supports continuing and maintaining the vaccine mandate,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh during a December 7 press briefing. “He fully believes this administration believes that the vaccine has done incredible work in terms of saving lives of not just our service members, but people all across the country.
“And he believes that the health and readiness of our forces is a priority,” she continued. “So, in terms of in terms of how we view the legislation, we — he has been continuously supportive of keeping the mandate in.”
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