Sen. James Lankford criticizes the Biden administration for prioritizing a “wake” agenda over protecting Americans’ First Amendment freedoms and vows to reinstate service members who were fired for refusing COVID-19 vaccine over religious concerns to employ.
Since the Biden administration issued a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine for troops in August 2021, more than 8,000 military personnel have been discharged for refusing the shot, many of whom sought religious or medical accommodations.
Following congressional outcry, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023, signed last year by President Biden, ended its own vaccine mandate, but it did not reinstate service members who had been fired for not getting the shot.
Lankford, R-Okla., told DailyMail.com during an exclusive interview Tuesday that he plans to prioritize returning discharged troops to the military and making sure the Biden administration doesn’t retaliate against religious service members further.
Staff Sergeant Travis Snyder, left, receives first dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine
Sen. James Lankford criticizes the Biden administration for prioritizing a ‘wake up’ agenda over protecting Americans’ First Amendment freedoms
The Oklahoma senator said he’s heard of discharged military personnel who say they want the “opportunity to come back” into the fold of the military.
“Many of these people are generational individuals — their parents served in the military, their grandparents served in the military, they planned to serve their entire career in the military and pass it down to their children. And instead they were pushed out of the military because of their religious beliefs,” Lankford told DailyMail.com.
He called it “obviously traumatic” for them, and also a “shock” because their families had been able to practice their faith and serve in the military for generations.
Now you have a situation where “you’re fighting for other people to get the First Amendment, but you can’t get First Amendment protection,” he said, which turns the Constitution on its head.
“They want the opportunity to rejoin the military and finish their long and distinguished careers. Individuals who had literally no other mark on their entire military service record, except you didn’t believe what President Biden did with the vaccine.”
“Because your beliefs aren’t consistent with the president’s, you can’t stay based on a religious belief that that just doesn’t align with where we are,” he said.
The GOP senator pointed to other religious adjustments the military accepts, including beard length for Muslims and allowing individuals to pray at certain times of the day.
“All those things are protected and can and should still be protected,” he added.
“So first of all, we need to bring back those people with the ability to rejoin the military.
The Republican-led House Armed Services Committee last week passed a series of amendments during the markup for fiscal year 2024 NDAA that would provide “restoration” for service members who were “unjustly fired” by requiring the Pentagon to initiate a reassignment process. and ensure that negative retaliation does not occur.
However, some troops have told DailyMail.com that those amendments “don’t go far enough” and won’t fix all the problems.
According to several active-duty military personnel, the amendments “will not make up for the missed career opportunities” that many troops have endured, including not being able to deploy or receive the necessary training to rise in the ranks of the military.
In addition, military personnel have told DailyMail.com that the military is making it extremely difficult for discharged troops to reapply through the normal process to regain their former positions due to a two-year delay in changing their discharge status from “general ‘. ‘ to ‘honourable’ to start the process.
In addition, thousands of military personnel who spent years waiting in limbo for an answer to their religious accommodation requests during that period were not promoted, transferred to other bases, and unable to fly – leaving them at a huge disadvantage.
Lankford acknowledged that, saying Congress must ensure that those troops who are still in the military and have been looking for accommodations will not retaliate with further “consequences” and can serve a long and distinguished career.
The military tried to “strongly arm” them to give up their religious beliefs, Lankford said.
They should be able to “continue their careers uninterrupted and with impunity based on their religious beliefs,” said the senator, who plans to speak with military personnel concerned about the proposed House NDAA amendments.
Lankford said there is an “obsession” in the military and within every Biden administrative agency and US embassies to push through a “wake up” agenda at the expense of military readiness.
“The obsession of this government is that they have a socio-cultural agenda,” he said.
“This government is absolutely obsessed with trying to push transgender rights and elevate those rights above the rights of any other person. And then also try to push for abortion wherever possible.’
The problem is especially bad in the military, Lankford continued, adding that the Biden administration is actively seeking ways to get out of the military “any conservative” or “any person with a religious belief who is in the military.” .
The Pentagon, with the support of military leaders and US President Joe Biden, has mandated COVID-19 vaccination for all military service members
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
Lankford is working with other GOP senators to repeal the Pentagon’s policy that would pay all travel expenses for service members and their dependents to obtain an abortion
He called it “frustrating” to watch, especially as the Biden administration is trying to take money away from providing care to veterans to “encourage more abortions at VA centers,” against federal law.
“They pay people to travel for an abortion and give them time off,” which he says goes against the military’s strict policy.
“That’s incredibly inconsistent not only with federal law, but also with military policy,” he continued.
Lankford is working with other GOP senators to repeal the Pentagon’s policy that would pay for all travel expenses for military personnel and their dependents to obtain an abortion.
The bill, spearheaded by Senator Joni Ernst, the first female veteran senator, has the majority support of the Republican Senate Conference and is expected to be included in the 2024 NDAA once it reaches the Senate.
The House of Representatives has yet to hold a full vote on the military amendment provisions and then send the bill’s text to the Senate, which will have to reconcile the language before it can move to final approval.