Republicans push to END military COVID vaccine mandate through the annual defense budget

Republicans' months-long push to end the military's COVID-19 vaccine mandate is gaining traction as Congress readies to pass the annual defense budget before the end of this year.

The final draft of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is set to be released this week, and GOP lawmakers are demanding a provision to roll back the pandemic-era policy that they warn poses a grave threat to national security.

The must-pass legislation comes before the House Rules Committee on Monday. 

Roughly 3,400 active duty troops have been sidelined because of their refusal to get the jab or a pending religious exemption as of this past spring, according to a recent letter by Senate Republicans.

Legislators arguing for the rule to end point out that the loss of manpower in the US military is exacerbating an already-worsening recruitment crisis within its ranks. 

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who's expected to take the Speaker's gavel next year, said during a Sunday television interview that President Joe Biden seemed open to repealing his vaccine mandate when they met last week. 

The White House confirmed to DailyMail.com early on Monday that the conversation took place and said President Joe Biden was 'considering' McCarthy's argument.

But NSC communications coordinator John Kirby poured cold water on that on Monday, announcing that both Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were opposed to the mandate's removal.

Republicans are mounting a push to get rid of the military's COVID-19 vaccine mandate with the latest Pentagon budget. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (left) said President Joe Biden was considering their demand, while a group of Republican senators wrote to Leader Mitch McConnell (right) calling for a vote on ending the rule before the final NDAA vote

'Leader McCarthy raised this with the President, and the President told him he would consider it,' principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told DailyMail.com.

'The Secretary of Defense has recommended retaining the mandate, and the President supports his position. Discussions about the NDAA are ongoing.'

The two-shot rule was first announced by Austin in August 2021. 

Meanwhile, a Democratic lawmaker indicated to Politico on the sidelines of a national security forum that support for the vaccine mandate may be weakening.

'Leader McCarthy raised this with the President, and the President told him he would consider it,' principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told DailyMail.com 

'I was a very strong supporter of the vaccine mandate when we did it, a very strong supporter of the Covid restrictions put in place by DoD and others,' Rep. Adam Smith of Washington said.

'But at this point in time, does it make sense to have that policy from August 2021? That is a discussion that I am open to and that we’re having.' 

In addition to troops sidelined by the vaccine mandate, officers across all branches of the US military have sounded the alarm about empty recruitment offices and missing quotas across the country.

The Army, the largest of the branches, was between 10,000 and 15,000 recruits short of its target in the last fiscal year, according to NBC 12.

A group of Republican senators including Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote a letter to GOP leadership including Mitch McConnell, telling them they would not consider the NDAA without first taking a vote on a measure to end the military vaccine mandate.

The lawmakers cited the recruitment crisis as an argument against the rule. 

'The United States simply cannot afford to discharge our brave men and women in uniform and lose the investments we have made into each and every one of them due to an inept bureaucratic policy,' the letter states. 

A Senate GOP letter states that roughly 3,400 troops were rendered inactive by the mandate

They claim the mandate 'has ruined the livelihoods of men and women who have honorably served our country.' 

Likewise, McCarthy claimed on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures that the NDAA 'will not move' without language to repeal the mandate.

'I've been very clear with the president. The president...worked with me on this,' McCarthy said.

'This is the first sign of having divided government. You've got some compromise here. And we've got something that the Republicans have been working very hard on, and a number of Democrats too, trying to find success, but one party rule would never allow that to go forward. And now we're going to have success.'

It's not clear how much power McCarthy has to stop the NDAA getting past the House in any form - while he'll preside over a thin majority next year, he's still leader of the minority party in the Chamber until the end of December.

In the Senate, by contrast, where 10 Republican votes will be needed to pass the bill, a bid to hold the budget hostage in exchange for a COVID vaccine mandate vote is not out of the realm of possibility.