{"id":30667,"date":"2025-01-16T15:37:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T15:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/16\/service-members-who-refused-the-covid-jab-would-get-their-jobs-back-and-back-pay-too-under-new-gop-bill\/"},"modified":"2025-01-16T15:37:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T15:37:46","slug":"service-members-who-refused-the-covid-jab-would-get-their-jobs-back-and-back-pay-too-under-new-gop-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/16\/service-members-who-refused-the-covid-jab-would-get-their-jobs-back-and-back-pay-too-under-new-gop-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Service members who refused the COVID ‘jab’ would get their jobs back and back pay, too, under new GOP bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

FIRST ON FOX:<\/strong> A pair of Republicans are introducing legislation that would offer service members who were fired over the military\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine<\/a> mandate a chance to get their jobs back and receive back pay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The AMERICANS Act, put forth by Sen. Ted Cruz,<\/a> R-Texas, and freshman Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., bans the Pentagon from instituting any additional COVID-19 vaccine mandates without congressional approval.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It would offer reinstatement to any service member discharged solely for their refusal of the COVID vaccine and credit them for the time of their involuntary separation for retirement pay,\u00a0<\/p>\n

TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM PETE HEGSETH’S SENATE CONFIRMATION HEARING<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

It would also restore the rank of anyone who was demoted over the vaccine mandate, offering them back pay and benefits for any compensation they lost as a result of their demotion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For those who do not want to rejoin service, it would restore their discharge to “honorable” to restore their GI Bill and health care benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In August 2021, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin<\/a> announced a requirement that troops take the COVID-19 jab for “readiness” purposes. That order was rescinded in January 2023 after lawmakers directed the Pentagon to do so in the annual defense policy bill Congress passed for that year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 8,400 troops were separated in the year and a half that the order was in effect. Thousands of others sought religious or medical exemptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Austin\u2019s repeal did not require the Pentagon to reinstate troops separated because of the mandate<\/a> and stipulated that commanders would still have the authority to consider troops\u2019 immunization status when making decisions on deployments or other assignments. He added that 96% of U.S. forces had taken the vaccine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Our military is still dealing with the consequences of the Biden administration\u2019s wrongful COVID-19 vaccine mandate,” Cruz said in a statement. “The AMERICANS Act would provide remedies for servicemembers whom the Biden Department of Defense punished for standing by their convictions. It\u2019s the right thing to do.”<\/p>\n

DEM SENATOR WHO BASHED HEGSETH’S QUALIFICATIONS STANDS BY DOD SEC WHO OVERSAW BOTCHED AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“The Biden Administration\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine mandate wasn\u2019t about science or readiness\u2014it was about control,” said Harrigan. “As a Green Beret, I\u2019ve seen the sacrifices our service members make firsthand, and I will not stand by while their honor is tarnished.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The legislation is in line with a pledge President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth<\/a>, made on Tuesday to re-recruit those who parted ways with the military over the vaccine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Service members who were kicked out because of the experimental vaccine,” Hegseth told lawmakers, “they will be apologized to. They will be reinstituted with pay and rank.”<\/p>\n

Trump told supporters over the summer he would “rehire every patriot who was fired from the military” because of the mandate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pentagon leadership considered offering back pay to troops after the vaccine mandate was rescinded in early 2023, but it never came to fruition.<\/p>\n

Republicans have long railed against the vaccine mandate<\/a> and the separations it caused, arguing it was a detriment to morale at a time of major recruitment issues. Pentagon leaders argued that their forces had been required to get vaccines for years, particularly if they deployed overseas.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FIRST ON FOX: A pair of Republicans are introducing legislation that would offer service members who were fired over the military\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine mandate a chance to get their jobs back and receive back pay.\u00a0 The AMERICANS Act, put forth by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and freshman Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., bans the Pentagon from … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}