GOP delays defense bill over COVID Vax mandate and wake-up policies

It’s that time of year, everyone! No, I’m not talking about the holiday season full of office Christmas parties you don’t want to go to, or Christmas shopping under stifling inflation.

I’m talking about the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) season, when Congress sits down and votes on defunding the Pentagon and the entire military before they begin a new year.

With Republicans getting a narrow lead in the House, there could be room for negotiations on some provisions of the NDAA. The political game is on, dear reader, so let’s see what pieces are on the game board.

I am fighting to eliminate the COVID shooting warrant in this year’s NDAA because our brave men and women in uniform deserve better.

— Senator Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) December 6, 2022

The shot

The most important item on the NDAA board that could show some leeway for a victory for Republicans is the COVID vaccine mandate for the military.

In a letter from 11 senators led by Rand Paul of Kentucky, the signatories pleaded for a hard line on the NDAA to remove the mandate, indicating:

“The Department of Defense’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate has ruined the livelihoods of men and women who have honorably served our country.”

More than three thousand soldiers were dump for refusing the vaccine mandate, and court case were filed against the services for failing to review religious exemptions appropriately.

Further, the Inspector General’s reports indicated that these exemption requests were not scrutinized for approval or disapproval, but instead received general disapprovals affecting the careers of thousands of people. .

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Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a statement regarding the need to abandon the mandate:

“The problem here is that we have a dilemma that we haven’t had in decades, and that is finding enough people to serve in the military.”

He goes on to state:

“Our recruiting targets are very short, conflicts around the world are getting worse, not better – we need more people in the military, not fewer.”

In a year when the military has seen historically low levels of recruiting, the senator might be right to re-examine why we are firing desperately needed men and women.

Congress must end the COVID vaccination mandate for our troops and reinstate all those discharged for not being vaccinated. The Biden DoD can no longer justify this mandate, it must be stopped in the NDAA.

— Rep. Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) December 3, 2022

The rest

It wasn’t just the shooting that got Republicans to rein in the NDAA; woke policies are pushed into the bill and woke policies already in place in the military establishment have the wrath of the GOP. Every month it seems the Pentagon gets caught promoting a new social policy that has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with the leftist agenda.

In addition to the gender and race ideology that I have often spoken about, the left is also trying to use the military to advance its climate agenda. In this NDAA, there are provisions to mandate the Pentagon buy electric vehicles to replace the current fleet of vehicles in the army.

RELATED: Americans are fed up with woke military leadership: poll shows less than 50% now trust

For the record, the last time I checked, there weren’t many EV charging stations in the war zones I frequented.

In addition, the Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade decision created quite a wave in this country to be included in the army.

The GOP wasn’t too happy when the Secretary of Defense endorsed Trip costs for service members to obtain abortion services if they are stationed in a state that does not allow abortions, in addition to not having to take personal leave to perform the procedure.

NDAA funding provides a pilot program to feed the Navy fake meat.

As if recruiting wasn’t tough enough right now to entice young people to join our vaccine-needed woke army, the Navy is going to have an even tougher time because apparently Bill Gates is designing the menu. pic.twitter.com/csGOnKy7qI

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) July 12, 2022

Swollen

The NDAA is known not only for funding the military and setting Pentagon policy, but also as a tool to dump whatever the ruling party wants to fly under the radar of the American people.

This NDAA under review has over 900 amendments attched; how many of these amendments will be scrutinized by our legislators?

I would risk a big fat zero. As Congressman Kevin McCarthy deservedly said last month:

“I’ve looked at what the Democrats have done on a lot of these things, especially in the NDAA – the ‘wokeism’ that they want to introduce there.”

Why does this happen? Because it is easy to defame the opposing party for supporting the NDAA, because it implies a lack of support for the military and the defense of our country. One of those amendments this year is a provision to make women eligible for the draft.

RELATED: White House defends Chinese COVID protesters after attacking Americans and Canadians

Senator Tom Cotton said of this type of amendment:

“The Defense Bill is not where Democrats can indulge in wild ideas of their latest social experiments, like forcing women into the draft.”

As a female veteran, I’m all for women entering the draft. However, the senator is right; amendments like these smear the NDAA and should be considered as a standalone bill.

The NDAA should be dead when it arrived without this change (and deal with funding abortion trips, waking up bureaucrats and drafting our daughters). #StandUpForAmerica https://t.co/isfTrPqIiO

— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) November 30, 2022

A small victory, big losses

The GOP could have the COVID vaccine mandate removed from the NDAA. Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith (D-WA) suggests to a possible compromise on this point, specifying:

“…at this point, does it make sense to have this policy from August 2021? This is a discussion that I am open to and that we are having.

Representative McCarthy complaints he will “guarantee the lifting” of the vaccine mandate or “the bill will not budge”. We’ll have to see if he can deliver on that promise.

Meanwhile, the roughly $840 billion NDAA is calling for a 4.6% salary increase for the military.

Sounds like a lot until you compare it to the current inflation rate by 7.7%. So food stamps are still in the future for the best in America.

Service members who have been advised to opt for food stamps to counter the effects of inflation must be impressed. https://t.co/SZiezaZ7Le

— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) December 2, 2022

It is difficult to argue that failure to pass the NDAA harms the military when passing the NDAA barely assistance the military.

But I guess it’s good that transgender women must enter the repechage, the Marine learns to use pronouns correctly, and cadets learn about white privilege.

We will care about paying our service members fair wages, modernizing our arms procurement process, and making military enlistment attractive to young Americans later.