Despite his admission “The pandemic is over,” President Joe Biden is refusing to commit to funding our nation’s military unless we continue to force servicemembers to take the COVID shot. In fact, when asked, his press secretary refuses even to say he’ll sign the funding bill. Biden harms national security.

     Our military is suffering a severe recruiting crisis, and Biden’s fixation on a never-ending pandemic and woke military is certainly not helping. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I’ve spent the last six months fighting for our men and women in uniform set to be discharged thanks to the draconian Biden vaccine mandate; and for six months, I have fielded nothing but political deflection that betrays the White House’s complete disregard for our military and our national security.

     This should be unthinkable when America’s adversaries around the world are threatening the safety and security of our nation and its allies. North Korea is racing to expand its ballistic missile capabilities, China is increasing its threats against our partner Taiwan and Russia has deepened its relationship with Iran to help wage its war against Ukraine.  During times like these, Biden should be laser-focused on ensuring the US military remains the most lethal fighting force on the globe. Instead, he continues to impose a vindictive and unnecessary vaccine mandate on our troops, forcing many of them to the sidelines. As commander in chief, one of the president’s most important duties is to protect those who volunteer to serve our nation, a duty he violated when he imposed the mandate.

     The Pentagon made COVID vaccinations mandatory for our nation’s troops in August 2021. The rules were clear: All servicemembers would take the shot or risk being fired. In doing this, Biden not only failed our men and women in uniform — he undermined our national defense.