Roger Marshall: “reserving the right to object, I rise in objection to this nominee due to his support of President Biden's irrational…”

“reserving the right to object, I rise in objection to this nominee due to his support of President Biden's irrational and now proven foolish vaccine mandates for our military. Last August, the Biden administration imposed a COVID-19 vaccine mandate across the entire military. This led to the expulsion of thousands of qualified, honorable servicemembers who elected not to receive the vaccine. This DOD mandate failed to account for immunity to the virus many troops gained through natural infection, which we now know is equal to or greater than the effectiveness of the vaccine. The mandate also failed to account for the fact that these men and women are our bravest and healthiest Americans, with strong immune systems. Recently, we learned that the Army cut roughly 60,000 National Guard and Reserve members from pay and benefits for refusing to take the COVID vaccine at the beginning of July. This decision was made at a time when more than 30 percent of its recruitment slots are not fulfilled. The recruiting crisis has gotten so bad that the Army is now placing enlistees who exceed body fat standards into a dietary and exercise program in order to lose weight. This manpower shortage could result in undermanned units and potentially longer deployments as well as greater dependence on National Guardsmen to meet mission goals. These personnel shortages are clear and obvious, and they are getting worse.…”