U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has filed another bill to help U.S. service members negatively impacted by the Biden administration’s COVID vaccine mandate at the Department of Defense.
Under former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, active-duty service members were required to take an experimental COVID vaccine, and nearly all who submitted Religious Accommodation Request (RAR) exemptions were denied. This led to service members being dishonorably discharged, demoted or other negative consequences, prompting multiple lawsuits in which federal judges ruled against all four branches of the U.S. military, The Center Square reported.
On Thursday, Cruz introduced the Reaffirming Every Servicemember’s Trust Over Religious Exemptions (RESTORE) Act to require the DOD to establish a Special Review Board to audit all four branches to investigate how and why nearly all RARs were denied.
The bill, which has multiple cosponsors, follows through on a commitment Cruz made to U.S. military members years ago. It also follows a bill he filed in January, the Allowing Military Exemptions, Recognizing Individual Concerns About New Shots (AMERICANS) Act, to ensure protections against any similar future mandates, The Center Square reported.
Although the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023 terminated the DOD COVID-19 vaccine mandate, an ultimatum Republicans made in order to pass it, it didn’t help service members who’d already been punished, demoted and discharged after their RARs were denied. Approximately 28,000 RARs were submitted. Fewer than 400 were approved in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Those who weren’t discharged for refusing to take the COVID shots still faced “cruel and unusual punishment,” demotion and dishonorable discharge, according to attorneys with Liberty Counsel representing service members who sued over the mandate, The Center Square reported.
Members of the Coast Guard were still seeking relief in a lawsuit filed by Thomas More Society, who two years after the mandate were still being denied promotions because they wouldn’t comply, The Center Square reported.
“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. “Under the RESTORE Act, these wrongs would be corrected for the men and women in uniform.”
The bill requires the secretary of defense to create a special review board to audit RARs and review the personnel records of every service member who filed one specifically for the COVID mandate. The audit requires the DOD to determine how service members’ careers were negatively impacted and to take corrective action.
Corrective action includes backdating promotions to the rank that service members would have achieved absent the adverse impact; correcting their date of rank; restoring lost pay and benefits, including back pay, retirement contributions and applicable bonuses; and reinstating them to service if they were forced out because the COVID mandate.
It also requires that all adverse administrative actions related to a service member’s refusal to take the experimental COVID drug or other protected religious accommodation are expunged from their record, including administrative reprimands, negative or inconsistent evaluations, promotion delays or denials, among others.
The bill requires the DOD to conduct the audit within one year of the bill becoming law and to provide compensation and remedies within 60 days of case resolution. It also requires transparency, including reporting findings to Congress and an audit by the inspector general.
U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, filed companion legislation in the U.S. House.
“President Trump and (Defense) Secretary (Pete) Hegseth are on a mission to fix what [former President] Joe Biden and [former Defense Secretary] Lloyd Austin did to our brave men and women in uniform,” Jackson said in a news release. “This bill gives the Trump Administration the authority to investigate and finally deliver justice to the thousands of servicemembers who stood their ground and stayed in uniform after filing Religious Accommodation Requests from the COVID-19 vaccine.
“These heroes were wrongfully punished for their religious convictions — passed over for promotions, slapped with unfair evaluations, and pressured to cave,” Jackson continued. “Those actions were absolutely wrong, and Congress must provide Secretary Hegseth with the authorities and tools he needs to make it right!”
Through years of litigation, federal judges ruled against U.S. military branches and the U.S. Supreme Court repeatedly ruled against state lockdown policies, The Center Square reported.
In one case, Judge Steven Merryday rebuked Navy and Marine Corps leaders, saying they must comply with federal law because it applies to “everyone from the President to a park ranger … from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to a military recruiter – even if they don’t like it and even if they don’t agree with it. The Free Exercise Clause and RFRA are the law of the land.”
