A top retired Coast Guard official is calling out the Pentagon's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for being an 'ideological purge' against religious service members who are being denied exemptions.
Florida Rep. Michael Waltz criticizes the Biden administration's 'asinine' mandate that will cost some U.S. service members their jobs., and says the mandate is leading to an unlawful"ideological purge."
"The American people have moved on. The President himself has declared ‘the Pandemic is over.’ Yet, we continue holding fast to an outdated mandate, purging hundreds of dedicated sailors, even though we struggle to meet our recruiting goals. It is now time to take a pause, reevaluate, and assess what this is costing readiness, the taxpayer, and the public perception of how we treat our people," he wrote in the letter.
"When I first raised this issue, it was about cadets. Nothing more. Having been ignored, it is now a campaign for ALL of them – the entire spectrum of unvaxxed people who had the moral courage to stand by their religious convictions," he explained."These are good, dedicated, highly trained individuals that we have spent a ton of money to develop. People with up to 18 years of service, forced out, with no pension.
"It's harassment at the hands of a government that has overreached their constitutional rights," Lee told Fox News Digital."My hope is that my own organization will stand up and address this and take root within the other military branches." A spokesperson for the Coast Guard confirmed to Fox News Digital last month that it is in the process of discharging any members without approved exemption requests.
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