U.S. Senators Ted Cruz, Rick Scott, Katie Britt, and Mike Lee have introduced the Reaffirming Every Servicemember’s Trust Over Religious Exemptions (RESTORE) Act. The proposed legislation seeks to address issues surrounding religious accommodation requests linked to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate imposed by the Department of Defense (DoD).
The RESTORE Act would require the DoD to set up a Special Review Board tasked with auditing how religious accommodation requests were handled across services. This board would identify those who faced unjust penalties and correct their career and personnel records.
Senator Cruz stated, “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. Under the RESTORE Act, these wrongs would be corrected for the men and women in uniform.”
Senator Scott added, “Biden’s DOD placed a ridiculous vaccine mandate on the great men and women who served our nation… I’m proud to support the RESTORE Act and will always be grateful to those willing to serve our nation.”
Senator Britt expressed her support: “I’m proud to support the RESTORE Act… This legislation builds upon the AMERICANS Act, of which I am also a proud cosponsor.”
Senator Lee noted that “Thousands of military service members were punished for declining the COVID-19 vaccine – some for religious reasons that are protected by the Constitution. The RESTORE Act corrects these injustices…”
In parallel efforts, Representative Ronny Jackson has introduced companion legislation in the House. He remarked, “President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are on a mission to fix what Joe Biden and Lloyd Austin did… These heroes were wrongfully punished for their religious convictions…”
The DoD’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate was implemented on August 24, 2021. While exemptions were allowed for various reasons, fewer than 400 out of approximately 28,000 religious accommodation requests were approved. The bill aims to rectify this by mandating a comprehensive review of career impacts due to denied or retaliated requests.
If passed, this legislation would authorize corrective actions such as backdated promotions and expungement of adverse records while ensuring transparency through regular reporting.
