The Senate on Thursday passed a defense bill to revoke the U.S. military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate and authorize nearly $858 billion for national defense. Now the bill goes to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature. The bill authorizes $45 billion more for national defense than the Biden administration requested, which is a 10 percent increase over last year’s bill. However, the bill doesn’t reinstate those military personnel discharged for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine nor compensate them for any disadvantage caused by the vaccine mandate.
