4 Republicans Voted Against Reinstating Military Discharged Over Vaccine

4 Republican senators voted Thursday towards reinstating navy members who had been discharged for refusing to get vaccinated towards COVID-19.

Mitt Romney of Utah, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana, and Susan Collins of Maine voted towards Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson’s amendment that may have reinstated and offered backpay to navy members discharged for refusing to get vaccinated.

Johnson sought to amend the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which handed the Senate, 83-11, Thursday night time. Although this modification failed, Republicans had been in a position to embody a provision within the NDAA that halts the Division of Protection from forcing service members to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“These had been direct orders from commanding officers,” Cassidy mentioned in an announcement to The Every day Sign on the vaccine mandate. “I voted to finish the COVID vaccine mandate within the navy however it’s not Congress’s place to intervene within the chain of command and set a precedent for navy personnel to disregard direct orders.”

The opposite senators didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark from The Every day Sign.

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 28: The lead GOP negotiators on the bipartisan infrastructure laws, L-R, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. Invoice Cassidy (R-LA), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) communicate to reporters after assembly privately with Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on the U.S. Capitol on July 28, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photograph by Drew Angerer/Getty Photos)

Many service members have requested non secular exemptions to the vaccine: 9,068 members of the Army, 4,309 members of the Navy, 1,350 members of the Coast Guard, 3,740 members of the Marines, and roughly 11,000 members of the Air Drive requested non secular exemptions, The Every day Sign has realized.

The navy granted only a few of those exemption requests: 123 to members of the Military, 65 to members of the Navy, 12 to members of the Coast Guard, 23 to members of Marines, and roughly 200 to members of the Air Drive.

In whole, 8,424 navy members have been discharged, the Division of Protection confirmed to The Every day Sign on Thursday: 1,841 within the Military, 3,717 within the Marines, 1,631 lively within the Navy and 401 within the Navy Reserve, and 834 within the Air Drive.

The Every day Sign beforehand shared numerous tales about navy members discharged for refusing to be vaccinated. Republican senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah have each labored to spotlight

“There’s one phrase that sums up what has been perpetrated towards the great women and men who merely reserved their rights afforded to them by the Structure,” Air Drive member Brian Saunders instructed The Every day Sign. “Betrayal.”

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