House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Subcommittee on Military Personnel Chairman Jim Banks (R-IN) are pressing the Pentagon for answers on its plan to implement the COVID vaccine mandate reversal, the damage the Biden administration’s mandate did to the military, and reinstatement of troops to the military.
Rogers and Banks said the administration has been “slow” to provide answers.
In a letter sent to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on February 8, 2023, Rogers and Banks said:
A letter of December 23, 2022, requested ‘your plan to implement this statutory requirement.’ Your four-sentence reply to the letter on January 26, 2023, failed to include any implementation plan. Additionally, staff has repeatedly asked for answers to many COVID-19 rescission questions critically important to the retention and recruitment of men and women in each of the armed service.
House and Senate Republicans were successful last year in using the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act to force the Biden Pentagon to reverse its COVID mandate, which required all servicemembers to be vaccinated or face being kicked out of the military. More than 8,400 troops were involuntarily kicked out.
