Congress Moves To Compensate Troops Affected By Tuberville Protest But Not Those Punished For Refusing Covid Jab
Congress is gearing up to pass legislation to financially compensate U.S. military members affected by Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s promotion holds but, unsurprisingly, it does nothing for those who were unfairly punished for forgoing the Covid jab.
Introduced by Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., the Military Personnel Confirmation Restoration Act seeks to provide back pay to military officials whose promotions were delayed as result of Tuberville’s protest of the Pentagon’s unlawful abortion policy. After the Defense Department began using U.S. taxpayer dollars to subsidize service members’ travel expenses to get abortions earlier this year, the Alabama senator initiated holds on Biden’s military nominees that slowed the Senate confirmation process for these nominees.
Tuberville was all but forced to abandon most of his holds earlier this month after his GOP colleagues threatened to side with Senate Democrats in changing Senate rules to skirt the protest.
When introducing the bill, Rounds issued a statement claiming that while he disagrees with the Pentagon’s abortion policy and supports Tuberville’s “right to hold any nomination,” he believes America’s “men and women in uniform should not be caught in the middle of partisan politics.” Manchin echoed similar sentiments, stating that “the least we can do in Congress is restore the benefits they have earned and deserve.”
According to a Punchbowl News report published on Thursday, the Rounds-Manchin bill has purportedly garnered 37 co-sponsors and could receive Senate approval before the upper chamber departs for Christmas break. Contrast the Senate’s eagerness to ram this bill through in a matter of weeks with the chamber’s inaction on financially compensating the more than 8,400 U.S. troops kicked out of the service because they refused to get the experimental (and risky) Covid shot.
Earlier this year, for example, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and 18 other Senate Republicans introduced the AMERICANS Act, a bill that would require the military to welcome back service members who were fired for forgoing the jab, as well as restore rank to troops who were “demoted solely for COVID-19 vaccine status,” restore the pay and benefits associated with the position held prior to their demotion, and expunge their records of “any adverse action based solely on COVID-19 vaccine status.”
Unlike Rounds and Manchin’s “bipartisan” measure, the AMERICANS Act has seen zero action in the Senate. According to the congressional record, the bill has been sitting in the Senate Armed Services Committee since Jan. 24. Neither Rounds nor Manchin have bothered to co-sponsor Cruz’s bill.
Despite maintaining a majority in the lower chamber, House Republicans have also failed to advance measures to assist troops wrongfully discharged from service over the shot. Rather than ensuring core tenets of the AMERICANS Act were included in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, House GOP leadership settled for language merely directing the Pentagon to “review” possible reinstatement of service members fired over the jab in the final “negotiated” version of the bill.
The Pentagon has offered nothing to these 8,400-plus discharged troops except letters pleading for them to return to service. With behavior like this, it’s no wonder only 43 of these soldiers have opted to rejoin and work for leaders who clearly have no regard or appreciation for their service.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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