Biden and leaders at the Department of Defense have said they oppose ending the mandate.
“The president agrees with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that the Pentagon should continue to require all service members be vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said earlier this month. The vaccine is needed for overall fitness, readiness and unit cohesion, military leaders have said.
Others disagree.
“Our military is suffering a severe recruiting crisis, and Biden’s fixation on a never-ending pandemic and woke military is certainly not helping,” Tenn. Sen. Martha Blackburn, a Republican, said in a statement this week.
The bill does not reinstate service members who were fired for refusing the vaccine.
The mandate resulted in a federal lawsuit filed by Air Force plaintiffs, many of them with current or former ties to Wright-Patterson, who charge that the service has dismissed sincerely held religious objections to the vaccine requirement.
Hunter Doster, a lead plaintiff in that lawsuit, is a first lieutenant working for the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson, according to his LinkedIn page. Attorneys have told this newspaper that some 80 to 100 Airmen at Wright-Patterson are involved in the case. (Requests to interview plaintiffs have been declined.)
The new defense budget approves $29 million for construction of a new child development center at Wright Patterson, the second of two such centers funded at the base in the past two years, totaling $53 million for both.
The budget also sets aside $4 million for planning and design for construction of a Human Performance Wing Laboratory at the base. It also includes $16 million for Army Reserve maintenance support and $2 million for an Army Reserve Center.
The bill represents an approximately 10% spending increase from last year’s defense bill.
“The bill funds our national defense capabilities; increases pay for our service members by 4.6% and eases the burden of military families’ increased costs from inflation,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton.
“These key investments will ensure that everyone at Wright-Patt can continue to do their critical national security missions,” Sen. Sherrod Brown said. “Their work keeps us safe and helps power the Miami Valley’s local economy, and the child development center will improve their lives.”
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