Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester), who voted this week to repeal President Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate for US service members, said “ending Biden’s outrageous military COVID vaccine mandate is long overdue. The Biden COVID mandate has wrongfully discharged thousands of our courageous service members, threatened the livelihoods of tens of thousands more, and weakened our national security forces.”

            The repeal of Biden’s mandate is now well on its way to becoming law as part of the finalized version of the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act­­ (NDAA)—major legislation outlining US defense policies for the coming year that passed the House on Thursday for a second time and is expected to sail through the Senate as soon as next week.

            “Our selfless service members who have heroically stepped up to protect lives and defend freedom deserve our utmost gratitude and respect—not the unfair treatment they have received under the Biden Administration,” said Smith, who authored legislation to repeal the mandate and reinstate service members after meeting with his constituents who were kicked out of the military and robbed of their education benefits for objecting to the vaccine.

            Since the mandate took effect, more than 8,000 active-duty service members have been forcibly discharged from the military with another 60,000 service members in danger of being kicked out.

            The forced dismissals have continued even as Pentagon officials warn the US military faces its biggest recruiting challenges in nearly half a century. The Army, the largest branch of the military, fell 15,000 soldiers—or 25 percent—short of its recruiting goal in the past year alone.

             As eleventh-hour negotiations over the NDAA came to a head earlier this week, Smith pressed his colleagues to include language in the bill that would require no less than an “honorable discharge” for any service member separated from the Armed Forces solely on the basis of objecting to the COVID vaccine, ensuring they retain their GI bill education benefits. The renewed push by Smith came after House Democrats on the Rules Committee blocked a similar amendment he offered to the NDAA in July.

            “While ending Biden’s mandate is a big step in the right direction, we must now redouble our efforts to ensure that those who want to return to service are able to be reinstated at their same rank and grade and those who prefer to remain separated are able to receive the hard-earned education benefits they deserve,” said Smith, who vowed to continue fighting for those who have been robbed of their education benefits as a result of the mandate.

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