A new bill introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz and fellow republican leaders aims to deliver long-overdue justice to troops penalized for exercising their rights during the Biden administration’s strict COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The bill, titled the “Reaffirming Every Servicemembers’ Trust Of Religious Exemptions Act” (aka the RESTORE Act), would require the Department of Defense to directly audit its handling of religious exemption requests from military members who did not want to receive the vaccine.
The RESTORE legislation also lays out a path to correct the potentially stalled careers, tarnished records, and lost income many of these troops faced for simply standing by their beliefs.
“American servicemembers are still facing unjust consequences for personal religious decisions that caused them to reject the Biden administration’s coercive COVID-19 vaccine mandates, including being denied promotions and receiving negative performance reviews,“ Cruz said via press release. “Under the RESTORE Act, these wrongs would be corrected for the men and women in uniform.”
While the DoD claimed to allow religious exemptions during the 2021 vaccine rollout, less than 2% of the approximately 28,000 exemption requests were approved, according to Cruz’s office. Many of those soldiers who were denied a vaccine exemption allegedly continued to serve under awkward systematic pressure, only to be sidelined for promotions or hit with negative evaluations for not getting the vaccine.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) critiqued Biden’s harsh regulations. He said the new RESTORE Act offers a crucial second chance to military members wrongly stripped of their careers or future opportunities.
“Biden’s DOD placed a ridiculous vaccine mandate on the great men and women who served our nation, kicking American heroes out of our service for refusing to comply for health or religious reasons,“ Scott added.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) has also introduced a companion bill in the House, praising the RESTORE Act efforts as a step toward helping the troops make up for lost time.
“These heroes were wrongfully punished for their religious convictions – passed over for promotions, slapped with unfair evaluations, and pressured to cave,” said Jackson.
If passed, the new laws would also mandate back pay, rank restoration, and the removal of negative actions from affected troops’ personnel records.
The legislation would also require quarterly “transparency reports,” with an inspector to audit each case connected to the religious exemptions by troops after Biden’s vaccine requirements.