JUST IN: Cruz Introduces Amendment To Reinstate Military Service-Members Let Go Over Vaccine Mandate

Madam president senator from Texas I call it my amendment number 421 and ask that it be reported by number the clerk will report senator from Texas Mr Cruz proposes amendment number 421 to amendment number 935. Madam president last December Marine General David Berger stated the obvious that the department of defense's coveted vaccine mandate hurt recruiting and hurt retention for several weeks now our Democrat colleagues have been saying that military Readiness is suffering due to promotion delays well I have good news for my colleagues my Amendment will help address these problems while last year's ndaa quite rightly repealed the vaccine mandate prospectively problems caused by the Mandate persist including concerning recruiting retention and readiness according to reports the Biden Administration dismissed over 8 400 military service members who had vaccine concerns dot routinely denied religious accommodation requests violating the rights of service members protected by the Constitution and rifra DOD gave 80 over 80 percent of these service members a quote General discharge causing them to lose GI benefits and in some cases V8 VA benefits even though those were benefits earned through honorable service my Amendment rights these wrongs it will allow service members dismissed over the vaccine mandate to seek reinstatement or a change in their discharge status it restores lost GI and VA benefits according to Media reports the dod is already contemplating all of these actions but I believe the Senate should lead to address these issues they've ended the vaccine mandate and it's not fair to the over 8 000 service men and women dismissed for a policy DOD no longer believes is necessary I urge members to support my Amendment the senator from Rhode Island I oppose the amendment because one of the fundamental aspects of the military is the ability of a senior to issue an order and the willingness of a subordinate to accept that order and what we're dealing with here are individuals without appropriate justification refusing to carry out a lawful order now the vaccination policies of the military are rather robust it is I think more than a dozen required vaccinations and someone who just could cavalierly dismiss that requirement and then claim that they should not be and somehow held accountable I think is wrong but this goes to the fabric of the military you you must obey lawful orders and all of these were lawful laws uh manager of vaccination again is not a new novel technique and the other aspect of this is this went right to the heart of Readiness we can all recall when an aircraft carrier in the Pacific had to be evacuated because of covid aboard the ship and news the ship was actually out of commission for several months that is originally the issue that's pretty obvious there are procedures to be reinstated in the military and they've been in effect for many many years there is a board procedure you can bring forth evidence that your dismissal is not appropriate and that's being pursued now I assume by many people or at least some so this would really I think basically signal that uh you don't have to obey legal orders from your commander if you're accepting popular Notions about what's right and what's not right and I think we should reject this amendment question is on the amendment as for the years is there a sufficient second there appears to be the clerk will call the roll Baldwin Mr barasso Mr Bennett who's Byrne Blumenthal Mr

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Length: 4min 51sec (291 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 27 2023