Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB511 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 511
5	5	To provide remedies to members of the Armed Forces discharged or subject
6	6	to adverse action under the COVID–19 vaccine mandate.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY16, 2025
9	9	Mr. H
10	10	ARRIGAN(for himself, Mr. KENNEDYof Utah, Mr. OGLES, Mr.
11	11	H
12	12	AMADEHof Arizona, Mr. STUTZMAN, Mr. WIED, Mrs. LUNA, Mr.
13	13	K
14	14	NOTT, Mr. HARRISof North Carolina, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. MOOREof West
15	15	Virginia, Mr. O
16	16	NDER, Mr. BARRETT, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. MURPHY, Mr.
17	17	S
18	18	ELF, Mr. DOWNING, Mr. JACK, Mr. SCHMIDT, Mr. MESSMER, Mr.
19	19	M
20	20	CGUIRE, Mr. HARIDOPOLOS, and Mr. RULLI) introduced the following
21	21	bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL
22	22	To provide remedies to members of the Armed Forces dis-
23	23	charged or subject to adverse action under the COVID–
24	24	19 vaccine mandate.
25	25	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
26	26	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
27	27	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
28	28	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Allowing Military Ex-4
29	29	emptions, Recognizing Individual Concerns About New 5
30	30	Shots Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘AMERICANS Act’’. 6
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33	33	•HR 511 IH
34	34	SEC. 2. REMEDIES FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES 1
35	35	DISCHARGED OR SUBJECT TO ADVERSE AC-2
36	36	TION UNDER THE COVID–19 VACCINE MAN-3
37	37	DATE. 4
38	38	(a) L
39	39	IMITATION ON IMPOSITION OF NEWMAN-5
40	40	DATE.—The Secretary of Defense may not issue any 6
41	41	COVID–19 vaccine mandate as a replacement for the 7
42	42	mandate rescinded under section 525 of the James M. 8
43	43	Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 9
44	44	2023 absent a further Act of Congress expressly author-10
45	45	izing a replacement mandate. 11
46	46	(b) R
47	47	EMEDIES.—Section 736 of the National Defense 12
48	48	Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 117– 13
49	49	81; 10 U.S.C. 1161 note prec.) is amended— 14
50	50	(1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘
51	51	TO 15
52	52	OBEY LAWFUL ORDER TO RECEIVE ’’ and insert-16
53	53	ing ‘‘
54	54	TO RECEIVE’’; 17
55	55	(2) in subsection (a)— 18
56	56	(A) by striking ‘‘a lawful order’’ and in-19
57	57	serting ‘‘an order’’; and 20
58	58	(B) by striking ‘‘shall be’’ and all that fol-21
59	59	lows through the period at the end and insert-22
60	60	ing ‘‘shall be an honorable discharge.’’; 23
61	61	(3) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-24
62	62	section (g); and 25
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65	65	•HR 511 IH
66	66	(4) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-1
67	67	lowing new subsections: 2
68	68	‘‘(b) P
69	69	ROHIBITION ONADVERSEACTION.—The Sec-3
70	70	retary of Defense may not take any adverse action against 4
71	71	a covered member based solely on the refusal of such 5
72	72	member to receive a vaccine for COVID–19. 6
73	73	‘‘(c) R
74	74	EMEDIESAVAILABLE FOR ACOVEREDMEM-7
75	75	BERDISCHARGED OR SUBJECT TOADVERSEACTION 8
76	76	B
77	77	ASED ONCOVID–19 STATUS.—At the election of a cov-9
78	78	ered member discharged or subject to adverse action based 10
79	79	on the member’s COVID–19 vaccination status, and upon 11
80	80	application through a process established by the Secretary 12
81	81	of Defense, the Secretary shall— 13
82	82	‘‘(1) adjust to ‘honorable discharge’ the status 14
83	83	of the member if— 15
84	84	‘‘(A) the member was separated from the 16
85	85	Armed Forces based solely on the failure of the 17
86	86	member to obey an order to receive a vaccine 18
87	87	for COVID–19; and 19
88	88	‘‘(B) the discharge status of the member 20
89	89	would have been an ‘honorable discharge’ but 21
90	90	for the refusal to obtain such vaccine; 22
91	91	‘‘(2) reinstate the member to service at the 23
92	92	highest grade held by the member immediately prior 24
93	93	to the involuntary separation, allowing, however, for 25
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96	96	•HR 511 IH
97	97	any reduction in rank that was not related to the 1
98	98	member’s COVID–19 vaccination status, with an ef-2
99	99	fective date of reinstatement as of the date of invol-3
100	100	untary separation; 4
101	101	‘‘(3) for any member who was subject to any 5
102	102	adverse action other than involuntary separation 6
103	103	based solely on the member’s COVID–19 vaccination 7
104	104	status— 8
105	105	‘‘(A) restore the member to the highest 9
106	106	grade held prior to such adverse action, allow-10
107	107	ing, however, for any reduction in rank that 11
108	108	was not related to the member’s COVID–19 12
109	109	vaccination status, with an effective date of re-13
110	110	instatement as of the date of involuntary sepa-14
111	111	ration; and 15
112	112	‘‘(B) compensate such member for any pay 16
113	113	and benefits lost as a result of such adverse ac-17
114	114	tion; 18
115	115	‘‘(4) expunge from the service record of the 19
116	116	member any adverse action, to include non-punitive 20
117	117	adverse action and involuntary separation, as well as 21
118	118	any reference to any such adverse action, based sole-22
119	119	ly on COVID–19 vaccination status; and 23
120	120	‘‘(5) include the time of involuntary separation 24
121	121	of the member reinstated under paragraph (2) in the 25
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124	124	•HR 511 IH
125	125	computation of the retired or retainer pay of the 1
126	126	member. 2
127	127	‘‘(d) R
128	128	ETENTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF 3
129	129	U
130	130	NVACCINATED MEMBERS.—The Secretary of Defense 4
131	131	shall— 5
132	132	‘‘(1) make every effort to retain covered mem-6
133	133	bers who are not vaccinated against COVID–19 and 7
134	134	provide such members with professional develop-8
135	135	ment, promotion and leadership opportunities, and 9
136	136	consideration equal to that of their peers; 10
137	137	‘‘(2) only consider the COVID–19 vaccination 11
138	138	status of a covered member in making deployment, 12
139	139	assignment, and other operational decisions where— 13
140	140	‘‘(A) the law or regulations of a foreign 14
141	141	country require covered members to be vac-15
142	142	cinated against COVID–19 in order to enter 16
143	143	that country; and 17
144	144	‘‘(B) the covered member’s presence in 18
145	145	that foreign country is necessary in order to 19
146	146	perform their assigned role; and 20
147	147	‘‘(3) for purposes of deployments, assignments, 21
148	148	and operations described in paragraph (2), create a 22
149	149	process to provide COVID–19 vaccination exemp-23
150	150	tions to covered members with— 24
151	151	‘‘(A) a natural immunity to COVID–19; 25
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154	154	•HR 511 IH
155	155	‘‘(B) an underlying health condition that 1
156	156	would make COVID–19 vaccination a greater 2
157	157	risk to that individual than the general popu-3
158	158	lation; or 4
159	159	‘‘(C) sincerely held religious beliefs in con-5
160	160	flict with receiving the COVID–19 vaccination. 6
161	161	‘‘(e) T
162	162	ERMINATION OFOBLIGATIONTOREPAYBO-7
163	163	NUSES OFMEMBERSSEPARATED FORREFUSINGCOVID– 8
164	164	19 V
165	165	ACCINE.— 9
166	166	‘‘(1) I
167	167	N GENERAL.—A former member of the 10
168	168	Armed Forces who was separated from the Armed 11
169	169	Forces because the former member refused to obtain 12
170	170	a COVID–19 vaccine shall be released for any obli-13
171	171	gation to repay any bonus received by the former 14
172	172	member. 15
173	173	‘‘(2) R
174	174	EIMBURSEMENT OF REPAYMENTS .—A 16
175	175	former member of the Armed Forces described in 17
176	176	subsection (a) who, before the date of the enactment 18
177	177	of this Act, repaid any portion of a bonus described 19
178	178	in that subsection shall be reimbursed for such re-20
179	179	payment. 21
180	180	‘‘(f) A
181	181	PPLICABILITY OFREMEDIESCONTAINED IN 22
182	182	T
183	183	HISSECTION.—The prohibitions and remedies described 23
184	184	in this section shall apply to covered members regardless 24
185	185	of whether or not they sought an accommodation to any 25
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188	188	•HR 511 IH
189	189	Department of Defense COVID–19 vaccination policy on 1
190	190	any grounds.’’. 2
191	191	Æ
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