Democrats Blocked Republican Amendments to End Military Vaccine MandateKristina Wong 20 Jul 2022
Democrats on the House Rules Committee recently blocked consideration of every Republican amendment to a yearly defense policy bill that would have ended the Biden administration’s military vaccine mandate, despite the impact it could have on military readiness and recruiting.
The vaccine mandate could mean discharge — as the Department of Defense has vowed — for more than 260,000 troops out of a 2.1 million-force who are not fully vaccinated in accordance with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s order, as recently reported by Breitbart News.
Last week, more than a dozen Republicans submitted 16 amendments to the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have ended the mandate for service members and contractors, exposed its effect on the military, or sought to reduce punishments for troops, but Democrats on the House Rules Committee blocked all but one from being considered by the House, ruling them all “out of order.”
The House Rules Committee did not allow consideration of a Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) amendment to express the sense of Congress that members of the Armed Forces should not be discharged for refusing the vaccine for COVID-19, but allowed a Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) amendment that expressed the sense of Congress that the Army’s research on working dogs detecting diseases including COVID-19 should continue to receive funding.
The only Republican amendment allowed was from Rep. Pete Stauber (MN) and required the DOD to report every 60 days on religious and medical exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine requirement requested and denied, the reasons for such denials, the number of members denied an exemption who complied with the requirement, and the number of members denied who did not comply and were separated.
The House Rules Committee is commonly known as “The Speaker’s Committee,” since it is the mechanism the Speaker uses to maintain control of the House floor, according to the committee’s website. There are nine Democrats on the committee, and only four Republicans.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) blasted the House Rules Committee after it blocked his amendment to defund the mandate.
“Last night the rules committee, controlled by Nancy Pelosi, refused to allow the House of Representatives to vote on my National Defense Authorization Act amendment which would have defunded the military COVID-19 vaccine mandate,” he tweeted.
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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/07/20/democrats-blocked-republican-amendments-to-end-military-vaccine-mandate/
