[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4925 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4925

 To preserve the readiness of the Armed Forces by limiting separations 
 based on COVID-19 vaccination status and continuing pay and benefits 
   for members while religious and health accommodations are pending.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 22, 2022

  Mrs. Blackburn (for herself, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Braun, Mr. Hoeven, and 
 Mrs. Hyde-Smith) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 
            and referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To preserve the readiness of the Armed Forces by limiting separations 
 based on COVID-19 vaccination status and continuing pay and benefits 
   for members while religious and health accommodations are pending.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preserving the Readiness of our 
Armed Forces Act of 2022''.

SEC. 2. ACCESS TO PAY AND BENEFITS FOR MEMBERS OF NATIONAL GUARD AND 
              RESERVE COMPONENTS WHILE REQUESTS FOR RELIGIOUS AND 
              HEALTH ACCOMMODATIONS ARE PENDING.

    A member of the National Guard or another reserve component of the 
Armed Forces shall maintain access to pay and benefits while a request 
of the member for a religious or health accommodation is pending.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON INVOLUNTARY SEPARATION OF MEMBERS OF ARMED FORCES 
              BASED ON COVID-19 VACCINATION STATUS.

    A member of an active or reserve component of the Armed Forces may 
not be involuntarily separated from the Armed Forces based solely on 
the vaccination status of the member with respect to COVID-19 until the 
Armed Forces have achieved the end strengths authorized under the most 
recent Act authorizing appropriations for military activities of the 
Department of Defense.
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