The conservative House Freedom Caucus is calling on Republicans to reject a massive defense bill that authorizes the Department of Defense’s policies and spending for fiscal year 2023 unless it includes a repeal of the military vaccine mandate, and other Biden administration policies.
The House Freedom Caucus on Tuesday sent a letter to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) urging Republicans to withhold support for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) unless it reverses the “disastrous policies of President Biden undermining our military.”
The caucus noted the bill will come for a vote after the election later this year when Republicans are slated to take control of the House, and that Republicans “have the opportunity to stand in defense of our Nation’s military — if we stand united.”
In the letter, they noted that President Joe Biden has admitted the “pandemic is over,” and yet the Pentagon continues to “force an experimental and largely ineffective vaccine onto America’s military personnel.” The letter said:
[T]housands of our best and bravest service members face involuntary discharges for refusing on religious or medical grounds – and the Department of Defense Inspector General has raised serious concerns regarding the wholesale denial of vaccine mandate exemption requests.
“Furthermore, even while President Biden’s policies are pushing highly trained and experienced personnel out of the military, every service branch is struggling to meet its recruitment goals. This is irrational and unacceptable,” they wrote, adding:
Democrats will need Republican votes to pass the NDAA, and the House Freedom Caucus urges all Republicans to hold the line to force Democrats to reverse the policies of President Biden undermining our Nation’s military and its combat readiness, starting with the vaccine mandate.
They said Republicans must demand that the NDAA:
“(1) fully repeals the vaccine mandate and allows service members involuntarily discharged to be reinstated without penalty;
(2) ends the contamination of our military by radical Leftist ‘woke’ ideologies and the prioritization of politics over combat readiness;
(3) halts wasteful spending on ‘Green New Deal’ pet climate projects; and
(4) establishes a Special Inspector General on U.S. involvement in Ukraine.
The Freedom Caucus wrote:
Without at least these critical changes, Republicans must delay the passage of the FY 2023 NDAA until the start of the new 118th Congress in January to allow voters and their newly elected representatives to have a voice on the legislation, and use a new Republican Majority to comprehensively rework the NDAA to serve America’s service members instead of Leftist political agendas.
Last year, as reported by Breitbart News, Republicans succeeded in stripping provisions from the NDAA that would have required women to register for the draft in the military, allowed military courts to confiscate firearms from service members without due process, and created a new office in the Pentagon to focus on “extremists” in the military.
The members of the House Freedom Caucus include: Chairman Scott Perry (PA); and Reps. Lauren Boebert (CO); Chip Roy (TX); Jim Jordan (OH); Warren Davidson (OH); Andy Biggs (AZ); Dan Bishop (NC); Mo Brooks (AL); Ken Buck (CO); Ted Budd (NC); Madison Cawthorn (NC); Ben Cline (VA); Michael Cloud (TX); Andrew Clyde (GA); Scott DesJarlais (TN); Byron Donalds (FL); Jeff Duncan (SC); Russ Fulcher (ID); Louie Gohmert (TX); Bob Good (VA); Paul Gosar (AZ); Mark Green (TN); Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA); Morgan Griffith (R-VA); Andy Harris (MD); Diana Harshbarger (TN); Yvette Herrell (NM); Jody Hice (GA); Clay Higgins (LA); Mike Johnson (LA); Debbie Lesko (AZ); Mary Miller (IL); Alex Mooney (WV); Barry Moore (AL); Ralph Norman (SC); Gary Palmer (AL); Bill Posey (FL); Matt Rosendale (MT); David Schweikert (AZ); Greg Steube (FL); Tom Tiffany (WI); and Randy Weber (TX).
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