A group of 21 Republican governors, led by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, have sent a letter to congressional leadership expressing their objection to the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Under the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate, all United States service members, including the National Guard, are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate on members of our Armed Forces is a threat to national security & readiness at home in TN.
With 20 GOP governors, I’m calling on Congressional leaders to take action to restore personal freedom for the brave men & women who serve our nation. pic.twitter.com/TT164k2pJa
— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) November 30, 2022
The governors said that the vaccine mandate is “causing current service members to leave their ranks and deterring new recruits from signing up, severely impacting the United States’ defense abilities at home and abroad.”
In addition, the governors cite that their “ability to effectively serve the citizens of their states” is harmed as “the National Guard consistently misses its recruiting mark and forces the discharge of tens of thousands of service members” due to the federal vaccine mandate. The governors added that they “rely on a strong National Guard to respond to natural disasters and conduct emergency operations.”
“We face a two-front problem due to the Biden vaccine mandate: current service members are leaving our ranks, and new recruits are not signing up to join. Implementation of the mandate has placed our nation’s military readiness at risk,” the governors write.
“As Congressional leaders, it is your duty to provide for the national defense, and therefore, we call upon you to protect the men and women in uniform—who protect us—from an unnecessary vaccine mandate,” the governors conclude.
Lee is not the only Tennessee official leading the charge against vaccine mandates.
Last month, The Tennessee Star reported that Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led a group of states in filing a petition to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requesting that the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers be withdrawn.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Bill Lee” by Bill Lee.Â
Who woke up Little Billy Lee? Could he not find another company or welfare program to work on?
My son if finishing up at the University of Tennessee and was speaking to a Navy Recruiter. He’d like to serve as an Officer. But he was told by the recruiter that ‘they were not accepting religions exemptions to the Covid 19 Vaccine.’ He then asked the recruiter, “If I am not fighting for Human Liberty and Dignity, then just what would I be fighting for?”
This should have happened a year ago.
👏👏👏👏. This 👆