White House officials on Wednesday called ending the military vaccine mandate through must-pass legislation in Congress a ‘mistake’ but would not say whether Biden would veto the bill.
The White House on Wednesday pushed back against a Republican-led effort to repeal the military vaccine mandate after Democrats compromised and allowed the repeal to be included in must-pass defense legislation in Congress.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said repealing the policy would be a “mistake,” but she declined to say whether President Joe Biden would veto the defense bill, called the National Defense Authorization Act.
“What we think happened here is Republicans in Congress have decided that they’d rather fight against the health and well-being of our troops than protecting them,” Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing on Wednesday. “And we believe that it is a mistake, what we saw on the NDAA as it relates to the vaccine mandate. Making sure our troops are prepared and ready for service is a priority for President Biden – the vaccination requirement for COVID does just that.”
