119th Congress Armed Forces and National Security
H.R. 511: AMERICANS Act
Introduced
- Introduced (completed)
- Passed House (not reached)
- Passed Senate (not reached)
- To the President (not reached)
- Became law (not reached)
Summary
This bill prohibits the Department of Defense (DOD) from issuing any COVID-19 vaccine mandate as a replacement for the rescinded vaccine mandate of August 24, 2021, unless the mandate is expressly authorized by Congress. The bill also provides that DOD must establish an application process for remedies for members of the Armed Forces who were discharged or subject to adverse action under the rescinded mandate.
Any administrative discharge of a member on the sole basis of a failure to receive a COVID-19 vaccine must be categorized as an honorable discharge, and DOD is prohibited from taking any adverse action against such a member for that reason.
DOD must try to retain unvaccinated members and provide such members with professional development, promotion and leadership opportunities, and consideration equal to that of their peers.
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Additionally, DOD may only consider the COVID-19 vaccination status of members in making certain decisions (e.g., deployments in countries where it is the law) and must establish a process to provide exemptions to certain members for such decisions.
Members who were separated from the Armed Forces for refusing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine are not required to repay any bonuses and must be reimbursed if they repaid any portion of a bonus prior to this bill's enactment.
This bill applies to all members of the Armed Forces, regardless of whether they sought an accommodation to any DOD COVID-19 vaccination policy.
Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
Roll calls
No roll call votes have been held on this bill.
Amendments
No amendments were offered to this bill.
Cosponsors
- Tom Barrett R-MIOriginal
- Troy Downing R-MTOriginal
- Charles (Chuck) Edwards R-NCOriginal
- Abraham Hamadeh R-AZOriginal
- Mike Haridopolos R-FLOriginal
- Mark Harris R-NCOriginal
- Brian Jack R-GAOriginal
- Mike Kennedy R-UTOriginal
- Brad Knott R-NCOriginal
- Anna Luna R-FLOriginal
- Gregory Murphy R-NCOriginal
- Mark Messmer R-INOriginal
- Riley Moore R-WVOriginal
- John McGuire R-VAOriginal
- Troy Nehls R-TXOriginal
- Andrew Ogles R-TNOriginal
- Robert Onder R-MOOriginal
- Michael Rulli R-OHOriginal
- Marlin Stutzman R-INOriginal
- Keith Self R-TXOriginal
- Derek Schmidt R-KSOriginal
- Tony Wied R-WIOriginal
- Michael Baumgartner R-WA
- Addison McDowell R-NC
- Derrick Van Orden R-WI
- Paul Gosar R-AZ
- Rudy Yakym R-IN
- Craig Goldman R-TX
- Brad Finstad R-MN
Who scored on this bill
- 1Pat Harrigan SponsorIntroduced, reached a cosponsor milestone2 events+6
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Introductions and cosponsorships count toward weekly caps and show no points.
Other bills by Pat Harrigan
History
- Introduced in the House by Pat Harrigan.
Show the full action history (2 actions)
- Introduced in House
- Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.