Senate Resolution 7 - Introduced
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 7
BY SALMON, ZAUN, WESTRICH, McCLINTOCK, LOFGREN, GUTH,
J. TAYLOR, KRAAYENBRINK, GREEN, and ALONS
1 A Resolution condemning the federal vaccination mandate
2 for members of the military and urging state and
3 federal authorities to take remedial actions for
4 negatively impacted service members.
5 WHEREAS, the Iowa Army and Air National Guard
6 provide vital services and keep the citizens of Iowa
7 and the United States secure in times of emergency; and
8 WHEREAS, the Biden Administration and U.S. Secretary
9 of Defense Lloyd Austin previously issued an arbitrary
10 order that Iowa Army and Air National Guard service
11 members must be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus
12 as a condition of their service to the state and
13 nation; and
14 WHEREAS, said vaccination mandates made recruiting
15 efforts difficult, compromising the readiness of the
16 Iowa Army and Air National Guard, and violating the
17 personal freedoms of our guardsmen to make their own
18 medical decisions; and
19 WHEREAS, while the U.S. Department of Defense has
20 been authorized approximately 2.1 million uniformed
21 personnel, according to December 20, 2022, Department
22 of Defense data, the department has fallen short by
23 99,805 fully vaccinated members; of that number, 26,145
24 personnel are partially vaccinated and 73,660 positions
25 have no possible vaccinated person to take the position
26 at all; and
27 WHEREAS, the congressionally required total armed
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28 forces to protect national security interests could
1 not be met while the vaccination mandate was in place
2 without adding ranks of those who are being denied
3 religious exemptions or compromising the principles of
4 an all-volunteer force at its core; and
5 WHEREAS, thousands of service members in all
6 branches of the United States military who chose not
7 to receive the COVID-19 vaccinations were being denied
8 medical and religious exemptions on the grounds of
9 readiness, however, unvaccinated members who are
10 otherwise healthy were often forced to separate
11 from service, which was a greater threat to military
12 readiness; and
13 WHEREAS, beyond their years of experience, the
14 military stands to lose members with costly specialized
15 training; in the case of Wilson v. Austin alone,
16 250 pilots at an average cost of $5.4 million in
17 training may be purged, causing catastrophic financial
18 losses; and
19 WHEREAS, according to federal law, and subsequently
20 published in Department of Defense policy, it is
21 an unlawful order to require a service member to be
22 vaccinated with emergency use authorization-labeled
23 vaccines; and
24 WHEREAS, all COVID-19 vaccines are labeled Emergency
25 Use Authorization and required by federal law to
26 be made optional, and not required, for all service
27 members; and
28 WHEREAS, various other treatment options for
29 COVID-19 exist and have been acknowledged by government
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30 agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and
1 the Centers for Disease Control; and
2 WHEREAS, numerous harmful effects of the vaccine
3 have been acknowledged as evident in adverse event
4 tracking databases, and known as side effects by the
5 Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of
6 Health, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
7 who subsequently enlisted assistance from various
8 social media outlets to subdue the truth and cover it
9 up; and
10 WHEREAS, service members waiting for or being denied
11 exemptions have faced discrimination, court martial,
12 and forced separation, while others have determined
13 they can no longer renew their contract to serve,
14 further exacerbating the already declining military
15 numbers; and
16 WHEREAS, military medical whistle-blowers attempting
17 to give truthful facts regarding COVID-19 and the
18 vaccine have suffered adverse discriminatory acts
19 and been subjected to various career-threatening
20 punishments including private medical data being
21 made public, withholding promotions or assignments,
22 involuntary separation, court martials, career-ruining
23 assignments, administrative reprimands, and
24 non-judicial punishment; and
25 WHEREAS, those with medical exemptions or seeking
26 religious exemptions were temporarily exempt, but
27 barred from deployment as the COVID-19 vaccine was
28 a “nonwaiverable” requirement for each geographic
29 combatant command, and their freedoms and careers
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30 continue to be impacted; and
1 WHEREAS, the majority of Federal District Court
2 and U.S. Court of Appeals rulings have upheld the
3 complaints of service members against the Department of
4 Defense, alleging a violation of the Constitution and
5 federal statutes in processing and denying religious
6 accommodation requests; and
7 WHEREAS, all service members took an oath to support
8 and defend the Constitution and are not required
9 to obey unlawful orders, but have had their own
10 constitutional rights and freedoms violated by their
11 superiors; NOW THEREFORE,
12 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, That the Senate
13 urges the governor to act as follows to mitigate
14 the arbitrary and unjustified action of the Biden
15 Administration in requiring COVID-19 vaccinations of
16 Iowa Guardsmen as a condition of service to our great
17 state and to our nation:
18 a. Reinstate the Iowa Army and Air National Guard
19 members with back pay and full benefits who have
20 refused the COVID-19 vaccine.
21 b. Publicly condemn any firings and nonpay status
22 of Iowa Army and Air National Guard members.
23 c. Issue salary payments to the Iowa Army and Air
24 National Guard members who are on a no-pay status
25 relative to state active duty orders for refusing the
26 COVID-19 vaccination.
27 d. Request the Iowa Adjutant General, Major General
28 Benjamin Corell, to halt any further firings of Iowa
29 Army and Air National Guard members who have refused
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30 the COVID-19 vaccine, including those with medical or
1 religious exemptions; and
2 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Senate commends the
3 various advocacy groups such as the Liberty Counsel,
4 First Liberty, Alliance for Free Citizens, Thomas More
5 Society, and others who selflessly provided legal
6 representation in federal district and appellate
7 court to those seeking exemptions from the COVID-19
8 mandate; and
9 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Senate commends the
10 Governor for requesting that the federal government
11 withdraw vaccine mandates for National Guard
12 members; and
13 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Senate commends
14 members of the U.S. Congress for rescinding the mandate
15 in the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization
16 Act, and urges them to take further action to make
17 whole those military members who were negatively
18 affected by the COVID-19 vaccine mandate through
19 compensatory measures such as noncompetitive promotion,
20 back pay, full benefits, and a change allowing the
21 COVID-19 vaccine to be a waiverable requirement for
22 deployment.
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