Senate denies Cruz amendment to restore discharged military personnel due to COVID-19 vaccine.
The Senate Rejects Amendment to Reinstate Discharged Military Service Members
The Senate rejected an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday that would reinstate military service members discharged for violating the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The mandate was repealed as part of last year’s NDAA, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) proposed this amendment as a continuation of that repeal.
Support for Service Members
“The brave men and women who join our military to serve their country deserve respect and support, regardless of their COVID-19 vaccine status,” Cruz stated. ”This amendment would reinstate servicemembers who were wrongfully discharged due to their COVID-19 vaccine status and give justice to servicemembers punished in other ways due to COVID-19 vaccine status.”
However, the final vote tally was 46 votes in favor to 53 against, falling short of the required 60 votes to pass the amendment.
Conflicting Views
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) argued against the amendment, stating that it conflicted with two important tenets of the military: readiness and obeying lawful orders. Reed emphasized that a COVID-19 infection could impact military personnel’s readiness to fight and that refusing the vaccine when the mandate was in effect was a violation of a lawful order.
Before the mandate was repealed, approximately 8,400 service members were discharged. While some Democrats defected last year to support the mandate repeal, this time around, the vote was mostly along party lines.
Continuing the Fight
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) expressed his support for the amendment, stating, “While the DOD’s authoritarian COVID vaccine mandate ended last year, we cannot leave behind the brave men and women who were wrongfully discharged or otherwise punished for refusing to take the vaccine. These servicemembers deserve to be made whole, and our amendment would both right this historic wrong and prevent it from ever happening again.”
The Senate is working to make progress on the NDAA before the August recess. The vote on this amendment comes after the Republican-controlled House passed amendments related to social issues, which face a more challenging path in the Democratic Senate.
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