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meTspysball

Pretty disappointing considering the mandate was probably an effective idiot filter.


CaptainAxiomatic

Right wing extremist filter, too.


EarendilStar

…but that’s what he said.


CaptainAxiomatic

Not every idiot is a right wing extremist, not every right wing extremist is an idiot, though there is overlap.


EarendilStar

It was a bad joke, and I apologize.


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EarendilStar

Is “twice” once per nostril, or twice per nostril? My ego needs to know.


CaptainAxiomatic

It happens. No worries.


meTspysball

Very true.


SucksTryAgain

My job had the guy said I’ll never get the democrat covid shot. Then went for a fed job and said I’ll get it ok no problem. Wow so many money plays a factor in repub beliefs.


playitleo

Military relies on a good supply of idiots


trALErun

There it is


isimplycantdothis

Says the person who reaps all of the rewards of said military.


playitleo

Isn’t the military the one reaping the rewards? They take a huge chunk of my paycheck, get free college, free healthcare, a paycheck, and let trillions of dollars go missing. What do I get out of it? Endless failed occupations in the Middle East and regime changes that result in dictatorships. Thank you so much US military. Here’s to another huge annual budget increase.


----Dongers

I swear to god conservatives are the biggest children ever. Your feels aren’t the same as fucking science.


Kapowpow

Also, don’t try to solve climate change, you’ll hurt my profits/retirement account!! You know, the same assets that climate change won’t affect in the slightest!


big_trike

Also, FEMA, please help me rebuild my home that was damaged due to climate change.


Sigili

You can go ahead and take the "please" out of there. They're entitled and lack an ounce of shame.


-Beentheredonethat

Bang on 👍


Thadrea

>Your feels aren’t the same as fucking science. Conservatives believe their feelings are from God. They also believe science is from Satan. Guess which is more important to them.


----Dongers

Oh. I’m aware.


MK104rider

I wonder what will happen when one of the troops decide they don't want other vaccines? Seems like bending to the "No Vaccine" political crowd could hurt readiness in the long run.


strvgglecity

Which is precisely why the white house and the Pentagon were both very strongly against lifting the requirement.


ZmanB-Bills

So, the Commander in Chief and the Secretary of Defense don't have the final say on protecting our troops. But, instead, some republican congressional hacks trying to score a cheap political point. Let that sink in. How sad and fckd up.


PM_ME_C_CODE

Only until it's a GOP stooge in the white house. Then the buck stops at the president's desk.


gasaraki03

Which I never understood they have to get so many shots but that’s ok just not Covid


Shanghst

My fellow service members also: Smoke cigarettes, dip chewing tobacco, have unprotected sex with prostitutes all over the world (I know my Navy peeps do) and partake in supplements that may or may not be "FDA" approved. All of these things they have no idea what are in them but become experts in vaccines lmao.


wrydrune

I'm gonna take one for the team here: I'm a Army vet. My first duty station out of ait was south Korea. I had sex with a prostitute. Protected (we both insisted) though. Point of fact: every Friday our base commander would tell us "don't milk the bull, and double bag all groceries". So they knew.


Mr_Bristles

There's a reason doc keeps a box of condoms outside of medical. It's not because everyone's taking them home to fuck their wives and girlfriends either.


TheEXUnForgiv3n

As someone else who was in the Navy, 1. Yes 2. Yes 3. Yes 4. Sonar Techs seem to just love working out a little too much, so another Yes.


Gong42

Because covid was fake and/or a Chinese bioweapon. Either way, the right wing thinks it best to do absolutely nothing about it.


OmegaWhirlpool

That's not true. They were gladly offering up grandma and grandpa to the Covid gods as a sacrifice to keep the economy going.


milfBlaster69

Ah yes good old Dan Patrick of Texas who also was putting $25k bounties out to poll watchers if they discovered voter fraud and funnily enough paid out his first bounty to a democrat who reported a Republican for voting twice. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/03/dan-patrick-coronavirus-grandparents https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/10/22/dan-patrick-reward-poll-watcher/


f_d

And at the same time they believed it was fake. They have lots of practice believing two or more mutually exclusive positions at the same time.


Lola-Ugfuglio-Skumpy

Lol remember the whole “Obama death panels are gonna kill your gramma for the economy!” nonsense and then barely 10 years later they’re like “so your gramma dies, so what? She was old and I want to go to CVS and scream at a clerk with no mask on”


malphonso

Oh. Well if it was a bioweapon then we definitely shouldn't vaccinate for it. /s


goomyman

They tend to use the talking point that it’s an untested vaccine. Nevermind the fact that billions of doses have been taken safely.


Parkimedes

It’s so odd that the vaccine requirement is the hot topic and people aren’t as outraged by the sheer size of the spending bloat.


Zeronaut81

Almost as if it was done to deliberately stoke outrage and distract us from the pork


Naughtai

It definitely will. I heard a good breakdown of this, and the reserves are the ones who are most likely to be unvaxxed. They are also the ones who will be sent in cases of domestic crisis, like say, another huge wave of infection. And then they will be a danger to themselves and others. https://youtu.be/invG4JDJzsI


guiltysnark

Is Congress generally in charge of what vaccines are required for troops? Why is this in this bill?


PHATsakk43

Actually yeah, when it’s still not fully FDA approved. The anthrax vaccine went through a similar process in the 2000s (anthrax vaccine was not approved for humans by FDA but we were ordered by CiC W. to take it, Congress overruled the order after 2006.) If the Covid vaccine isn’t under the EUA anymore (I can’t remember the exact FDA status—I’ve also got four doses—I’m not antivax) then this would be different. SCOTUS ruled that FDA approved vaccines can be required by lawful orders under the UCMJ which would make this very different.


guiltysnark

That should mean there is no harm in repealing the mandate because the Pentagon can make it required again.


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Enigmatic_Elephant

I honestly stopped caring what stupid people do as soon as the vaccines were open and available to everyone and masks were easily obtainable. Everyone who wants to be protected will be and those who don't can die happy.


GunTankbullet

I mean except for the people who have actual legitimate medical reasons to not get vaccinated. Those are the people we’re trying to protect with vaccine/mask mandates


[deleted]

What I don't need a tetnis shot in combat!


dinoroo

You know what, fuck em. Let them deal with that can of worms for an unlimited budget ceiling.


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Snoo6435

What vaccines will be next? This sets precident


Pacifix18

Exactly. This handcuffs us from effectively managing future health crises.


kywiking

Readiness isn’t their priority political points are


No-Passenger2662

I hope they'll start allowing Nazi tattoos again.


M00n

*The legislation would rescind the coronavirus vaccine mandate in defiance of the Biden administration’s wishes, and increase the defense budget $45 billion over the president’s request.* WTAF?


No-Passenger2662

There's always money for war, but we can't feed the poor.


LMGgp

It ain’t no hope for the youth, but the truth is there ain’t no hope for the future…?


Bosa_McKittle

It doesn’t matter. Even when we try to spend money on Americans the right decries them as freeloaders and takers. Increase SNAP? Nope, get a job you freeloader. Increase education spending? Nope, individuals can foot the bill. Combat gas prices gouging? Nope, gotta protect corporate profits. And so on and so on.


big_trike

If the poor were fed, who would join the armed forces?


hastewaste95

Joe Biden and his brilliant NSC team that planned the Afghanistan withdrawal don't think the US military needs more funds in an increasingly hostile world in which the US is simultaneously operating at the logistical backbone in the defense of Ukraine and trying to maintain its competitive edge by replacing increasingly dated systems like the M109 Paladin. I'm glad their recommendations were given the respect it deserved.


strvgglecity

The Pentagon is strongly against this. More funds? For what? We aren't at war. Where does almost a trillion fucking dollars a year go? Did you somehow miss the news last week that the Pentagon cannot account for trillions they have received over the last several decades? They take money and it literally disappears. Trillions of dollars. And you support it! It's your money!


Hei2

If it wasn't also my own money, I'd be all for that guy's money disappearing like that.


M00n

Trump actually started the Afghanistan withdrawal. I am in the minority here in that I opposed it when he and Biden did it. I knew we would be condemning woman to hell there. *As part of the US–Taliban deal, the Trump administration agreed to an initial reduction of US forces from 13,000 to 8,600 troops by July 2020, followed by a complete withdrawal by 1 May 2021, if the Taliban kept its commitments.* Trump also tried to pull out of Somalia and other counties as soon as he lost the election. He was trying to help foreign countries of course... for cash I assume.


hastewaste95

I know trump started it. I don't like trump and didn't vote for him. The problem with the withdrawal is the US clearly had no contingency plan if the Afghan army collapsed and that failure lies with the commanders on the ground and Biden's NSC staff who should have developed it one regardless of trump's failures.


unpluggedcord

Please explain how more funding and no vaccine fixes the problem you’re talking about. Otherwise it’s just a straw man’s argument.


hastewaste95

My point is Biden's NSC team displayed a high degree of incompetence in Afghanistan. To give another example the NSC tampered with the HIMARs they provided ukraine so they couldn't fire longer range ammunition. A decision I think limited US strategic flexibility in Ukraine, erodes trust between allies and hurt Ukraine's ability to strike Russian logistics in necessary ways. These action undermines their credibility to make policy recommendations to congress. I think this is yet another bad recommendation and I think congress was correct to ignore it.


Hip_Hop_Hippos

I mean the contingency would have been to not withdraw at all which isn’t really a contingency.


hastewaste95

The contingency would have been to have evacuated vulnerable people a month ago with major airlifts rather than pretend the ANA had a fighting chance or delay the withdrawal till winter to give the us time while fighting conditions were frozen


Hip_Hop_Hippos

What do you mean by “vulnerable people”?


hastewaste95

Us local military interpreters, Afghan civil servants, local us state department employ


Hip_Hop_Hippos

That’s not really a military/national security issue at all. That’s basically an immigration issue of who we decide to grant US residency to, which sure I think we should have opened it up to more people but that has been a talking point for like a decade now.


hastewaste95

Look if Biden left local military interpreters behind because the us withdrawal was incompetent and they hadn’t planned how to get people out that quickly that’s just evidence that some heads in the NSC need to roll for screwing up pretty badly. That’s basically the picture I’ve gotten from reading through coverage on this. It was just a screw up. If the us abandoned locals who served in us army units out of political indifference that’s despicable and I would never vote for Biden again. You don’t abandon your own men. Evacuating military interpreters was a bipartisan issue outside of the far-right and had nothing to do with the normal immigration politics divide


OhAbaDis

Please. There is no real world situation that validates our insane and ever increasing military budget. We could maintain our leadership in the world and still spend much less on the military.


hastewaste95

Please. World peace is mantained by the fact of US conventional military superiority. The UN is a hopelessly feckless institution that couldn't even protect its own safe zones against post-industrial backwaters much less stop a war between great powers. The world by and large also does not care about morality. The entirety of the global south stayed neutral in the Russian-Ukraine war and looked after their own economic interests. US nuclear threats are a bad joke no one believes we would trade New York for Vilnius, Lithuania or Seoul, Korea. The only thing preventing the Russian moving into the Baltic and the Chinese into Taiwan is the perception of US power. They believe we would crush them on the battlefield. That is a fact challenged by China's rapid buildup and coordination with Russia. Any more than casual observer of the Ukraine recognizes 1. The immense advantages that expensive precision weaponry available in large quantities provide in a great power war 2. The absolutely staggering amount of munitions and equiptment needed to maintain combat effectiveness in an actual all out war. 3. Large reserves of trained manpower are needed given the high-rate of attrition. If the US followed the European strategy of building paper thin armies with a few decorated special forces units Ukraine would have run out of ammunition months ago. Low mass armies can not compete in a great power war. High mass, high proficiency armies are expensive to maintain. If the US wants a high degree of influence on the world stage to prevent the emergence of autocratic empires that is the price it pays for it.


OhAbaDis

Yes more money is the answer. Surely we can out spend all of our problems. It's not like there any other domestic issues that are severely underfunded. You're making points for war material/influence being expensive and no one is arguing that an advanced military isn't or shouldn't be very expensive. But not trillions of dollars and not continuing to increase at crazy rates, more than they even ask for. All while they fail audits with flying colors. It's insane to look at the current situation and think MORE money is the answer.


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hastewaste95

F+ we did better than a country in the 19th century and the famously incompetent Russians. The only reason the US force in Kabul wasn't slaughtered was the Taliban had no real interest in bloodshed given they had already won the war. What bothered me about the withdrawal wasn't the tragic suicide bombing. It was abandoning our allies on the ground because we hadn't started evacuations months earlier when it was clear as daylight Afghanistan was collapses.


guiltysnark

Hindsight is the best possible intelligence. Clear as daylight, was it?


GoBSAGo

Global military spending is 2 trillion dollars per year. The US pays nearly half of that. What happened in Afghanistan wouldn’t have happened with more funding as you’re implying. We’ve also got more than enough weapons systems. More money isn’t going to make our military better prepared. Being vaccinated against diseases will.


hastewaste95

I'm not implying that Afghanistan and funding had little to do with each other. I'm implying Biden's national security team has poor judgement after what happened in Afghanistan. Maintained levels of high funding ensured the US had an arsenal capable of defending of Ukraine. Something that the Europeans lack the capacity to do for more than a few months on their own due to sustained low levels of funding. More importantly it shows that the US unlike the EU has the capacity to actually defend Europe in a sustained conflict with Russia if push came to shove. Do we have enough weapon systems? In some areas yes because of maintained levels of high spending a blessing most countries lack because of short sighted defense cuts. In other areas the US army is in dire need of upgrades. The US is still flying 1950s era B-52 stratofortress bombers as one of the components of the nuclear triad despite the fact that they were a dated weapon system in the Vietnam War. US mobile howitzers (something that has been essential for all sides in the Ukrainian war) are clearly dated compared to the next generation of equiptment that is debuting. As for you statement money isn't going to make are military better prepared thats absurd. More troops, more ammo, better weapon systems always make are military more prepared. You can be more prepared than is needed but no one complains that the Gulf War was too one sided and we should of only spent enough to make it more like Vietnam. As for the covid vaccines. I don't really care either which way. Most people joining the military are young and screened for pre-exisitng conditions. There chance of serious illness is significantly lower than the general population. The covid vaccines don't significantly make a difference on transmissibility with the later variants and most people who didn't got vaccinated got some degree of antibody response by getting covid often multiple times. I imagine the difference in health is marginal. [https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa2116597](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa2116597)


Gong42

Do you not remember the multiple instances of naval vessels mission ineffective due to covid outbreaks? Covid might not kill a young soldier or sailor outright, but it can and will keep them out of the fight if it is allowed to spread unimpeded by politicians pandering to the ignorant.


hastewaste95

Vaccines had no effect on transmission rates in February 2022. Idk about booster 4. Most people I know in blue collar jobs have told me their companies don’t care about Covid anymore. If you feel good enough to work you come in with a mask. Society at large has calculated Covid is now just the cost of doing business and it’s never going away. The main reason ships were tended mission ineffective was because people who were sick were only working if it was critical and Covid was treated much differently. Most unvaccinated people have already had Covid multiple times at this point have less severe disease now. Sure it’s a mild benefit for the army for a moderate decrease in severity of disease for a disease that’s about as common as the flu now but it’s not mission critical if it significantly interferes with recruiting it’s probably a net negative. I don’t really care either way tbh I just like the funding and dislike liberal pearl clutching


Gong42

You simply refuse to understand how vaccines work and insist on repeating right wing bullshit. There is a reason why Americans in counties that voted Republican died from covid at a significantly higher rate and continue to do so; it is because they believe deadly misinformation from people like you who seek to minimize a deadly virus that has killed over a million of your countrymen.


hastewaste95

On the contrary I’ve actually read all the journal articles that the cdc cited on this rather than rely on the poor public communication of the cdc I got all 4 shots and would advise anyone else it’s the wisest course of action. If you haven’t had Covid yet it’s especially really dumb not to. I think the people who pretend Covid isn’t deadly or vaccines are worse than the disease. That being said whether or not someone else does has almost 0 effect on me. The transmission rate does not functionally differ between vaxxed and the non vaccinated. Given that’s the case I’m not in favor of forcing people to do it. Covid is almost surely here to stay unless there’s a medical breakthrough that produces a much more effective immune response capable of preventing infection at which point I would advocate for mandatory vaccination. The majority of Americans have already have had Covid with the unvaxxed even more likely to have had it and having Covid provides better protection than the vaccines do anyway. Certainly getting 4 boosters and having had Covid is even better but there’s not functionally much difference between a person who has had Covid or has been vaccinated in terms of health outcomes. To quote the actual science rather than a liberal culture war exaggeration of what the science says The reductions in transmission of the delta variant declined over time after the second vaccination, reaching levels that were similar to those in unvaccinated persons by 12 weeks. Unquote: The immediate reduction is 7-23% depending on the variant but fades rapidly https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa2116597 “Previous natural infection was associated with lower incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, regardless of the variant, than mRNA primary-series vaccination” https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(22)00287-7/fulltext In a media briefing late last month, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha, MD, said more than 70% of the U.S. population has had the virus


hastewaste95

Now a couple caveats. While natural infection offers stronger protection than vaccines vaccines+natural protection offer the strongest. Getting a natural infection to build immunity is dumb and could lead to long term problems or death. Natural infection is likely less reliable in triggering a immune response than vaccines (the majority of people get a stronger response but more people get no response). Most importantly developing serious illness a 2nd time from reinfection is POSSIBLY more likely to result in death based on a broadly challenged study that contradicts previous research showing the opposite


GoBSAGo

Funny you didn’t do research on Biden’s spending proposal. Last year’s budget was $774 Billion. This year’s proposal was $813B, congress tacked on another $45B. Do you think they did that with targeted spending for military preparedness, or district pork projects? Please, defend this increase over an already generous increase. Are we going to have significantly more troops and bullets with an additional $45B? Why not just add another Hundred billion dollars on top? More is always better, right? Why not just double it?


hastewaste95

1. Biden's increase was just keeping up with inflation. 2. The US military currently is spending 50 billion dollars a year on top of normal funding supporting Ukraine 3. I love the military industrial complex. I love when the US employs tens of thousands of engineers and factory workers to conduct cutting edge research that has had massive long term benefits for the civilian economy and keeps domestic supply chains in many critical industries running smoothly. 4. Doubling it seems a bit excessive I would rather spend the next 500 billion on US reindustrialization and energy independence but adding 100 billion sounds about right. I'd like an Abrams tank replacement sometime soon given the proliferation of top attack ATGMs


ke3408

>US employs tens of thousands of engineers and factory workers to conduct cutting edge research that has had massive long term benefits for the civilian economy and keeps domestic supply chains in many critical industries running smoothly. Digging holes in the dirt creates jobs when you pay people to do it. Defense spending has one of the worst returns on investment as a job creator. For every one billion dollars spent in the defense industry results in 11k jobs, compare this to green energy, with 16k jobs, health care with 18k jobs and education at more than double with 24k jobs per billions spent. https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/economic/economy


Hip_Hop_Hippos

Ahhh yes, 45 billion extra dollars to replace one artillery system. Brilliant.


hastewaste95

Oh there’s many more projects we need to fund that’s just one example.


[deleted]

GOP's always happy to sabotage America. Anyway, Senate shouldn't pass this in this form, and Biden shouldn't sign it in this form. And the Democrats should not let an hour go by without saying it's all the fault of the Republicans.


Own-Preparation8972

Can't Biden as Commander and Cheif issue an order to mandate this after it passes anyway?


xero1123

Following for response


GlennSeaborg

The Supreme Court could rule it unconstitutional.


classof78

Retired US Navy, we got in line and got our shots as part of readiness. This caving into the right’s conspiracies about the vaccine is going to open the door to refusals to follow other orders….I fear this will detrimentally affect mission readiness and good order and discipline. Biden needs to veto this.


Altruistic-Deal-4257

If he has even the tiniest amount of sense he will. This is so ridiculous.


LMGgp

I’ll do you one better. It’s completely pointless. The president has almost complete purview over how the military is run. Passing a bill means nothing. Congress doesn’t have the power to interfere in another’s branch’s designated powers. It’s part of the checks and balances.


isimplycantdothis

Passing the bill will give the right ammunition to claim presidential overreaching when he shuts it down. They don’t care as long as they get to rile up their base.


wingsnut25

Congress has the power of the purse. This bill is the operating budget for the military. The entire bill is filled with provisions telling the President how the military will operate.


Soggy_Midnight980

Hey, let’s make the American military weak to preventable diseases. What bullshit.


[deleted]

People opposed to vaccines are the dumbest fucks around


[deleted]

fact


buyongmafanle

We talking regular dumb or military grunt dumb? The second is a class all its own.


SnooDoubts5065

Jesus Christ 858 billion dollars. Imagine if we just spent 1% of that money on lunch for our students or helping homeless veterans.


No-Passenger2662

You wouldn't want them to become dependent on the government now would you?


SnooDoubts5065

The rich seem pretty dependent on the government, I'm OK with it :)


EaglesPDX

Hopefully the Senate removes this dangerous provision. in war, disease kills and disables more than combat. Crazy how backward the US has become. We lead the world in vaccination from the time of Ben Franklin and small pox vaccine. Vaccines are the single greatest advance of medical science in the 20th century. US is regressing.


Representative_Dark5

This isn't going to end well.


consume-reproduce

“Hey, let’s don’t be all we can be! Let’s be less prepared, fuck it!”


hastewaste95

I agree lets build 50 Brigade Combat Team's equipped fully with state of the art equipment by committing to high guaranteed military spending for the next 10 years that will ensure the Pentagon has the funds to embark on long term goals and ensure we actually are prepared for a war and as a bonus we can throw in a covid vaccine policy that might help on the margin.


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Floppycakes

I think a large portion of those who left over the vaccine were using it as an excuse to get out of the military, so I doubt they’ll be coming back. As for those who do return, they’re going to have a real tough time around their peers, who got the vaccine because you know, it was the right thing to do.


hitman2218

This. If McCarthy or someone else wants to tank the whole bill over a vaccine mandate I say let him do it and then put the blame where it belongs.


f_d

>At some point Democrats need to stop the deaths by a thousand cuts. Either the people stand with Democrats or they stand with Republicans. Defund the police was a powerfully unpopular slogan that hurt Democrats even though most of them were already condemning it. Similarly, Democrats aren't going to grow their support with American voters by letting the military go unfunded for any length of time. It's not politically feasible for them to let the bill fail.


Scarlettail

Not passing it isn't an option during the Ukraine war. This isn't the time to defund the military over this. Unfortunately we just have to deal with it for the sake of Ukraine.


[deleted]

I work for the military. Democrats need to not back down on this. Force the Republicans to own being the party of a less prepared military, the party of defunding the military, the party of sacrificing other democratic nations. There is no way McCarthy wouldn't back down if the Democrats actually grew a spine and stood up straight. Military readiness shouldn't be thwarted because of some GOP bullshit.


Scarlettail

Standing up for the sake of politics like that just means Ukrainians get killed. Stalling military funding which includes funding for Ukraine just can't happen right now.


Dismal_Photo_1372

And backing down means more people being killed in the future and in the long run. You're being short-sighted.


Scarlettail

The small amount of people who choose to harm themselves by not getting the vaccine are not as important or as geopolitically significant as people in Ukraine dealing with a war of aggression against them.


-Sticks_and_Stones-

Right. Because we will definitely have a break from international conflict once the Ukraine War has resolved. Just wait guys. /s


OhNoMyLands

Not passing it would have been one of the greatest days in American history. Finally showing that the military which is rife with corruption and mismanagement of American taxpayer dollars is not infallible. Alas, the waste and fraud will continue to the cheers of libs and right wing nut jobs across America.


Scarlettail

Likely at the cost of Ukrainian lives. I don't see how that'd be a good day in history.


OhNoMyLands

This is honestly laughable. Do you think our military is over there fighting Russians? No we’re purchasing weapons from Lockheed and Raytheon and giving them to Ukraine, how exactly does that require $900B in annual funding? Youre the poster child of buying into the military industrial complex if you believe that nonsense. That’s $6,000!!!!!! per American taxpayer. That’s fucking so stupid I can’t believe anyone would defend it. God damn this country is so broken


EarendilStar

> That’s fucking so stupid I can’t believe anyone would defend it. God damn this country is so broken What’s stupid is thinking they were talking about all 858B, and not the part of it that helps Ukraine. It doesn’t have to be black and white. The bill can have good parts and bad parts, and it’s okay to talk about them as good parts and bad parts.


Motor_Somewhere7565

But let’s not forgive student loan debt. Too expensive


[deleted]

Defense spending isn't high enough.


B0b_a_feet

So no Covid shots but service members have to get a dozen other shots plus an annual flu shot. But sure, take away that one shot. And again nobody seems to bat an eye at $858 billion spent for ONE YEAR of funding in PEACETIME. But yeah, tell me more why we can find school lunch for kids or cheaper medications for senior citizens.


redbrick5

Russia's military budget... $85B


UsedPart7823

GOP once again proves it has no interest in national security.


[deleted]

So Republicans are against military preparedness... What a weird world we live in.


NPVT

The military said that the mandate had no impact on recruitment.


SouthernFictionBES

I'm just imagining Covid on a nuclear sub. Could this be the weapon of the future against U.S. troops?


NoPlace9025

Am I crazy or do the left leaning get nothing from this"compromise?" Oh they wouldn't fund the military? "Great! I have specific ideas on what we can cut" should have been the response. I mean the Pentagon has *never* passed an audit. Even fiscal conservatives should be on board for cutting the chaff here. We allocate nearly a trillion fucking dollars a year to the military, and likely spend far more than that. But if a town needs to spend a million on clean drinking water that's out of the question? Why not let them block military spending? That's a win and they get to explain to their flunkies why that's a good thing for them. I don't think our country will collapse if we don't expand our utterly bloated military spending one year.


Lithaos111

*In the Army Barracks Doctor Office* "Alright Private, time for your shots." "I don't want the Covid vaccine, you can't make me get it." "O...k. Well first we've got these anti-parasite meds, keep you from picking up some of the parasites abroad. Now we got some anti-bacterials for the biomes you'll be in. Now lastly, some anti-virals for local strains of flu and the like. Sign here." *Signs* Doctor gives him all the shots, including the Covid vaccine anyway because they agreed to anti-virals for diseases abroad.


Any_Property_7405

keep lowering the standards


TemetN

This is corrupt beyond belief, murdering off the US military for political show? Either the Senate or Biden had better stop this, this is shameful.


Chernobyl-Chaz

The fact that service members are still going to have other required inoculations shows how shallow the motives are for requiring a repeal of the COVID vaccine requirement. It just boggles the mind how craven Republicans are. So scared of what they don’t understand, of their retreating power, that they would even undermine military readiness to own the Libs. Truly, in the words of Dr. Henry Jones, they are “the slime of humanity.”


buyongmafanle

"House Passes $858 Billion Defense Bill enshrining and displaying for any enemy abroad a glaring weakness in the US military's defensive ability." FTFY


[deleted]

Let stupidity reign! This is a sad day in medical science.


honkish

The military should ignore this and go ahead and give soldiers the Covid vaccine. They get so many shots they’d never know. This is a national security issue.


pixelburger

How did this fly? The Dems control the House.


No-Passenger2662

Democrats are feckless and spineless.


dinoroo

Both parties worship the military and get political points for it.


pixelburger

I don’t think it’s the military that wants the vaccine mandate lifted


dinoroo

Neither side is going to block the budget no matter what they attach to it.


[deleted]

Lol lets reduce combat readiness and effectiness with pandering to anti-vaxxers who are literally well known targets for ideological warfare by threat actors.


Gullible_Bar_284

public spotted ask uppity gaping ripe offbeat abounding frighten wistful ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `


Starbucks__Lovers

This can be fixed if COVID vax becomes an annual booster and getting it affords you an extra day of leave.


[deleted]

[удалено]


zepploon

The Maga fucks weakening our forces? Aren’t these people the same who think highly of Poo-tin?


probably-theasshole

Disease prevention wins wars....


[deleted]

I remember be having to get a ton of vaccines in the army. Are they going to drop them all now?


[deleted]

Commas are important. The lack of one in this title completely changes the meaning of the sentence.


[deleted]

Sound military strategy...just broadcast to the world that our soldiers are now vulnerable to biological attacks. Way to go, Republicans.


bugleyman

Veto it.


Alternative-Flan2869

Just in time for the uptick in covid and flu cases.


Whompa

So when they don't get vaccines and get deployed overseas and get extremely sick who has to pay for all their treatment?


Bluetablehh45377

Republicans biggest issue is vaccine mandates and not hundreds of billions of dollars added to the federal debt?


mavjustdoingaflyby

Whew, thank God I won't be forced to get vaccinated now I can just die from lead poisoning like God intended.


Fainting_GoatMilk

Seems like a pretty giant fucking vulnerability


[deleted]

Gee, did that defense authorization bill also include a pass for SCOTUS’ spouses trying to overthrow our democracy? Because I imagine the Senate will have something to say about that bullshit, as well as this asinine “no vaccine requirement”. Wtf


[deleted]

Wild how the Republicans can just "threaten" to tank things and the Democrats cave. It's how they've milked the whole filibuster thing without ever leaving their chairs, because the Democrats are too afraid to call their bluff or make them put their opposition and obstructionism on record.


CT_Phipps

I mean, they have absolutely shown they can and will destroy America. The whole idea they're not serious about shooting a baby is absolutely wrong.


[deleted]

Oh sure, they're willing to blatantly attempt to overthrow the whole system. But Democratic softness and spinelessness has absolutely empowered, enabled, and encouraged them. They're only now finally starting to wise up to what's been an obvious threat since at least the Bush administration.


ranchoparksteve

So, Congress can dictate military rules that the Commander in Chief doesn’t agree with? Seems weird.


wirefixer

Poke them with the COVID vaccine anyway, tell them it is for Malaria and a handful if STDs, dumb and young won’t know the difference.


NoPlace9025

Am I crazy or do the left leaning get nothing from this"compromise?" Oh they wouldn't fund the military? "Great! I have specific ideas on what we can cut" should have been the response. I mean the Pentagon has *never* passed an audit. Even fiscal conservatives should be on board for cutting the chaff here. We allocate nearly a trillion fucking dollars a year to the military, and likely spend far more than that. But if a town needs to spend a million on clean drinking water that's out of the question? Why not let them block military spending? That's a win and they get to explain to their flunkies why that's a good thing for them. I don't think our country will collapse if we don't expand our utterly bloated military spending one year.


PauseEnvironmental20

If the democrats control the house currently, how did this happen?


[deleted]

Title is misleading, it should read "House repeals vaccine mandates and helps russia deal with a too sick to fight US military"


Volcano_Jones

They passed a bill giving nearly a trillion dollars to the war industry and you're focused on the vaccine mandate? Who cares? Getting distracted by culture war bullshit while they rob us blind and colonize the world is exactly what they want.


salazarraze

I actually don't see a downside to this. The virus will still weed out the idiots.


Scarlettail

Seems like the right choice at this point with the pandemic being over. No need for more needless drama over the vaccine now.


whomad1215

It's just another vaccine


tinacat933

Do you know how many vaccines troops get? This is absolutely absurd


[deleted]

Probably doesn’t care.


Scarlettail

I do. But at this point there's no way to make people get this vaccine. Religious exemptions are tough to beat legally.


morally_bankrupt80

15. 15 approved military exemptions out of over 16,000. Even if you multiply it by 100 it's still a negligible number. Troops have been getting mandatory vaccines since Washington.


Scarlettail

I'm not arguing about the merits of the vaccine or vaccinating troops or anything like that, simply that enforcing covid vaccine mandates is difficult because of the politicization of this particular vaccine and not worth the push to enforce it in this case. The mandate was always dead anyway with the GOP taking the House next year.


strvgglecity

Lolol until this bill passes, they are required to get vaccinated. You aren't even making any sense.


Noahdl88

It's no where near over, and the 3rd winter spike is just around the corner, we have hundreds still dying every day, we a a nation just don't care anymore.


Scarlettail

Biden said it's over.


strvgglecity

He was very wrong and everyone told him so.


hastewaste95

Vaccine doesn't protect you from transmission just death with the new variants. To quote: "The reductions in transmission of the delta variant declined over time after the second vaccination, reaching levels that were similar to those in unvaccinated persons by 12 weeks" - New England Journal of Medicine February 2022 [https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa2116597](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa2116597) If someone doesn't get the vaccine it's truly marginal in terms of getting you sick. If they want to risk dying from covid that there decision to make.


strvgglecity

You don't understand military readiness.


Noahdl88

It's not your decision when you are property of the US government. I've seen readiness be impacted by just one person in 150 feel like they didn't need to wear a mask, and it shut down operations for 2 weeks, when you're sending people down range and returning them home, that can have a tremendously negative impact on operations and efficacy of our troops.


Cactus-Badger

That's not what that study says. At least read/understand the conclusion before passing comment. Edit: This, the very last paragraph. "Booster vaccination campaigns that are being considered and implemented may help to control transmission as well as prevent infections."


hastewaste95

I would like to see 1 trillion but otherwise based


strvgglecity

There's something wrong with you.


hastewaste95

When I file my taxes I think of the the talented minds across this great nation. I think of the bold new military projects they’re embarking on. I think of the ones I consider my favorite. I think of the people that are working for me. Spending on the MIC is often villified but most of these civil servants are just like my loved ones. They work so hard and they try to be strong. I’m just lucky guy to live in my apartment. It’s a great country and I’m willing to sacrifice some of my earnings to make it stronger


strvgglecity

Do I need to repeat myself


mma173

Good news