BREAKING NEWS: House PASSES $858 billion defense bill that scraps the military vaccine mandate despite pleas from the Biden administration and Pentagon
- The House passed the massive $858 billion NDAA on Thursday
- Includes language that would get rid of the military COVID-19 vaccine mandate
- Bill now goes to Senate for a vote before heading to President Biden’s desk
- Biden objects to scrapping the DoD vaccine mandate for U.S. service members
The House overwhelmingly passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Thursday, paving the way for next year’s Defense budget to hit a record $858 billion.
The total amount is $45 billion more than proposed by President Joe Biden.
The 4,000 page of legislation includes, to the president’s dismay, language that would rid the Pentagon of its mandate requiring all service members to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
If it becomes law, the mandate would be dropped for all active duty service members within 30 days of its enactment.
The final 323-70 vote saw a majority of lawmakers from both parties in favor of the bipartisan funding legislation. Forty-five Democrats and 35 Republicans voted against passing the NDAA.
The House exceeded the two-thirds majority required to pass the legislation with 174 Democrats and 176 Republicans on board. Now the Senate will take up the bill before it goes to Biden’s desk.
The House surpassed the two-thirds majority needed to pass the massive $858 billion NDAA on Thursday, coming in at a price tag $45 billion higher than President Joe Biden requested
The legislation, if passed through the Senate and signed into law by the president, will scrap the military COVID-19 vaccine mandate
The president’s spokeswoman wouldn’t say whether Biden would veto the bill over the provision nixing compulsory vaccinations for all U.S. troops, but did say that the White House believes it’s a ‘mistake’.
The mandate, which was originally put in place in August 2021, became a major point for conservative Republicans who threatened to sink the entire bill if it wasn’t rescinded.
‘Republicans have decided they’d rather fight against the well-being of our troops and we believe it is a mistake,’ White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during her briefing Wednesday. ‘Making sure our troops are prepared and ready for service is a priority for President Biden and the vaccination requirement does just that.’
The president’s top spokesperson added, ‘I don’t want to get ahead of the process,’ when asked to comment on if Biden would veto the funding bill based on the provision added to the NDAA.
‘Every year, as you know, the NDAA has some provisions we support and some we do not,’ she said. ‘And what the president is going to do is he is going to judge this piece of legislation – this bill – on its entirety when that occurs.’
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