[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 195 (Thursday, December 15, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7209-S7210]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             COVID Vaccine

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, Winston Churchill said:
  We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit 
violence on those who would harm us.
  The men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces sign up for no small task. 
They join to serve their country; not for money, not for fame, not 
because it is glamorous in any way. They sign up because they 
understand that Winston Churchill was right--that the blessings of a 
free society are possible only if there are those willing to put the 
safety and well-being of their country ahead of their own safety and 
ahead of their own lives when necessary.
  That solemn, sacred responsibility, the responsibility that every 
member of our Armed Forces has committed so nobly to upholding, 
deserves our utmost respect.
  Regrettably, on August 9 of 2021, the Secretary of Defense issued a 
message to the force indicating his intent to require COVID-19 
vaccination for all servicemembers. This mandate went into effect on 
August 24, 2021.
  There were a lot of promises made at the time--promises suggesting 
that individual needs would be taken into account; individual needs 
including good-faith, sincerely held religious beliefs that might make 
it impossible for a servicemember to be vaccinated without violating 
his or her sincerely held convictions.
  Unfortunately, it hasn't really panned out that way, as I will 
explain in a moment.
  But in a nutshell, since the implementation of this vaccine mandate 
over almost the last year and a half, the United States military has 
dismissed 8,200 servicemembers for declining to receive the COVID-19 
vaccine.
  That is over 8,000--more than 8,200--individuals, and it is not just 
the individuals themselves. Many, if not most, of these individuals 
themselves are mothers or fathers. They have got mouths to feed, 
families to care for--all of whom are placed in a really unfair 
position as a result of this mandate. Serving our country shouldn't 
require you to surrender your fundamental right to make medical 
decisions that are right for you, no matter the reason, and yet that is 
precisely what the Department of Defense continues to do.

  My office has received hundreds of accounts from brave members of our 
Armed Forces detailing the hardships and the retaliation they have 
experienced for declining to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. One first 
sergeant in the Air Force writes:

       I was involuntarily separated and my enlistment was 
     curtailed. I was a First Sergeant with the U.S. Air Force 
     Reserves at the time the COVID mandate was put into place. I 
     did everything I could to be allowed to continue to serve my 
     country. I filed my Religious AR, and when it got denied, I 
     also filed an appeal, and that got denied.

  She goes on:

       All I wanted to do was to continue to take care of the 
     members of my squadron and continue to serve this great 
     country.

  Likewise, a Marine officer writes:

       My family was forced to move on very short notice back to 
     the U.S. from Okinawa, Japan due to the loss of a job and the 
     threat of travel restriction if we remained unvaccinated. . . 
     . Many are far worse off than me.

  Another lieutenant colonel with the Marine Corps Reserve was placed 
on ``inactive status'' with ``no warning or notice that this would 
happen'' and in the process lost TRICARE health insurance that his 
family relies on to

[[Page S7210]]

provide expensive medical supplies for his special needs daughter, even 
though his appeal for a religious exemption was and is--remains still 
today--pending.
  It seems in this and other circumstances, the Department of Defense 
has issued something of a pocket veto, not acting on these requests for 
an exemption but instead refusing to act and therefore leaving the 
servicemember with few options.
  This person writes:

       My entire family was--was without notice or warning--
     dropped from TriCare left scrambling to find health 
     insurance.

  These brave men and women represent just a tiny fraction of the 
servicemembers who have reached out to my office. Many are in 
desperation. They are pleading for someone to recognize the injustice 
they are experiencing. They deserve better, and we owe them more than 
this.
  So, as we consider this year's National Defense Authorization Act, 
the blueprint for the defense budget that directs policy for our 
military, we should adopt this simple amendment that would: No. 1, 
immediately repeal the COVID vaccine mandate; No. 2, prohibit DOD from 
replacing the current COVID-19 vaccine mandate with a similar mandate 
absent express congressional approval; No. 3, provide remedies for any 
servicemember negatively impacted by the mandate, including the right 
to reinstatement, if desired, and to petition for a change in status if 
they received a negative discharge based on whether or not they were 
vaccinated, correcting for any loss of rank, pay or retirement 
benefits; and, No. 4, require the DOD to make every effort to retain 
unvaccinated servicemembers.
  We, of course, can't take back the hardship that the military vaccine 
mandate has inflicted on countless servicemembers. We can't do that. 
That is in the past. But there are some things we can do. By adopting 
this amendment, we can recognize an injustice and take steps to restore 
the affected brave men and women who deserve our best.
  We owe them that, and we owe them so much more. So I urge my 
colleagues to support this amendment and stand with those who 
themselves ``stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm 
us.''
  It is the right thing to do.