A group of Republican senators has unveiled what they say is a groundbreaking bill aimed at righting the wrongs faced by American servicemembers during the COVID-19 vaccine mandate era.
The Reaffirming Every Servicemember’s Trust Over Religious Exemptions (RESTORE) Act, spearheaded by Senators Ted Cruz of Texas, Rick Scott of Florida, Katie Britt of Alabama and Mike Lee of Utah, mandates the Department of Defense to form a Special Review Board, tasked with auditing the handling of religious accommodation requests (RARs) related to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
This board will identify servicemembers who faced unjust penalties and “ensure their career and personnel records are corrected, restoring their honor and opportunities.”
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The bill comes nearly four years after the DOD implemented a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all U.S. service members at the height of the coronavirus emergency. While exemptions were permitted for religious, medical, or administrative reasons, the process for religious accommodation requests (RARs), according to Cruz’s office, was applied “inconsistently and with overwhelming rejection.”
Approximately 28,000 RARs were submitted across all branches, and fewer than 400 were approved, representing less than 2% of the total requests, according to data provided by Cruz’s office.
An estimated 18,000–20,000 service members who had submitted religious exemption requests remained in service and were denied promotions, received negative performance evaluations or were coerced into vaccination despite acting in good faith under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
In addition to establishing a review board, the RESTORE Act would authorize corrective action such as backdated promotions, restoration of Date of Rank (DOR), lost pay and retirement contributions, and expungement of adverse actions from personnel records. The bill, if passed, would also require compensation and other remedies to be delivered within 60 days of case resolution.
“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 in a statement. “Under the RESTORE Act, these wrongs would be corrected for the men and women in uniform.”
“Thousands of military service members were punished for declining the COVID-19 vaccine, some for religious reasons that are protected by the Constitution,” said Lee. “The RESTORE Act corrects these injustices by awarding the promotions and pay stolen from our courageous men and women in uniform by the Biden administration.”
While most armed forces personnel took the COVID-19 vaccine, thousands objected for religious reasons, noting that it had been developed through research that used aborted fetal cells.
Lawsuits were filed over the mandate, with many arguing that the military had failed to provide an adequate exemption process for those opposed to taking the injection on religious grounds.
In January 2023, then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the COVID-19 vaccine mandate was being rescinded, with him reporting in a memorandum that around 96% of military personnel were fully vaccinated.
Later in October of that year, DOD agreed to pay $1.8 million in fees and other litigation costs to end a lawsuit filed against the one-time COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
