WASHINGTON — Today, Congressman Ronny Jackson (TX-13) introduced the Reaffirming Every Servicemembers’ Trust of Religious Exemptions (RESTORE) Act. This bill would create a formal review process at the Department of Defense to support Secretary Pete Hegseth’s directive, to reinstate servicemembers who were discharged for non-compliance with the COVID-19 mandate, by mandating an audit of how religious accommodation requests (RARs) were handled under the Biden administration Department of Defense’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate—and to correct the career damage done to individuals who remained in service.
“President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are on a mission to fix what Joe Biden and Lloyd Austin did to our brave men and women in uniform,” said Rep. Ronny Jackson. “This bill gives the Trump Administration the authority to investigate and finally deliver justice to the thousands of servicemembers who stood their ground and stayed in uniform after filing Religious Accommodation Requests from the COVID-19 vaccine. These heroes were wrongfully punished for their religious convictions—passed over for promotions, slapped with unfair evaluations, and pressured to cave. Those actions were absolutely wrong, and Congress must provide Secretary Hegseth with the authorities and tools he needs to make it right!”
"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,” said Sen. Ted Cruz. “Under the RESTORE Act, these wrongs would be corrected for the men and women in uniform."
