This week, U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., brought out a bill “to defend service members who have been discharged for exercising their right to medical privacy by declining to take the COVID-19 vaccine.”
Mast’s office offered some of the reasons as to why the congressman introduced the proposal.
“The bill would require the Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force to reinstate, at their previous rank, the soldiers, sailors, Airmen and Marines who separated from service following President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate,” Mast’s office noted. “To date, 3,350 soldiers – the rough equivalent of three battalions – have declined to get the vaccine and are at risk of being discharged from the Army this week. More than 100 Marines were separated from service and dozens of sailors were removed from the Navy’s ranks in December. Out of the thousands of religious and medical exemptions requested by members of the military, only two have been granted.”
“Vaccine mandates have been used by the Biden administration to wipe critical thinkers and conservative perspectives out of our military, and America is less safe as a result,” Mast said. “This bill will strengthen military readiness, as well as get these young men and women back doing what they love: serving our nation.”
Mast reeled in more than 20 co-sponsors, all from the Republican ranks, for his bill, including Florida U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Matt Gaetz, Bill Posey and Greg Steube.
The bill was sent to the U.S. House Armed Services Committee. So far, there is no companion measure over in the U.S. Senate. The bill will have an uphill fight with both chambers on Capitol Hill controlled by the Democrats.
