House to repeal military vaccine mandate in defense bill despite Biden opposition

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Kevin McCarthy vows to lift vaccine mandate for military

House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., discusses his route to House speakership and unpacks national security issues, including China and Big Tech.

Congressional Democrats are set to hand President Biden and the White House a defeat on Tuesday by including language within the annual defense policy bill that repeals the coronavirus vaccine mandate for U.S. troops. 

Fox News has learned that the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will include a provision repealing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for service members. The bill is expected to be released Wednesday and be voted on by the House later this week. 

While the bill will remove the vaccine mandate for U.S. troops, it will not reinstate service members who were discharged or had their benefits slashed for refusing to be immunized against the coronavirus. 

Lawmakers on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees are working on including language within the NDAA that allows the Department of Defense to assess the status of service members impacted by the mandate. A further provision within the legislation will mandate the Pentagon study ways in which compensate service members who were punished for refusing to be vaccinated. 

WHITE HOUSE MAINTAINS SUPPORT FOR KEEPING MILITARY VAX MANDATE AS CONGRESS WEIGHS ROLLING IT BACK IN NDAA

The decision by lawmakers comes one day after the White House reasserted its support for keeping the vaccine mandate in place (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The decision by lawmakers comes one day after the White House reasserted its support for keeping the vaccine mandate in place. 

MCCARTHY VOWS MILITARY VACCINE MANDATE WILL END OR NATIONAL DEFENSE BILL WON'T MOVE FORWARD

Defense "Secretary Austin's been very clear that he opposes the repeal of that vaccine mandate, and the president actually concurs with the secretary that we need to continue to believe that all Americans, including those in the armed forces, should be vaccinated and boosted for COVID 19," said White House National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby.