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| Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images |
Some conservative lawmakers are celebrating the end of proxy voting following the Republican-led House’s vote approving of a new rules package Monday.
GOP lawmakers finally adopted rules for the 118th Congress following Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) historic speakership battle, which comprised 15 rounds of voting. On Saturday after midnight, he finally reached 216 votes after reaching an agreement with holdouts on certain concessions, which included lowering the threshold on the motion to vacate.
However, Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Bob Good (R-VA), and Matt Rosendale (R-MT), and Rep.-elect Eli Crane (R-AZ), voted “present” in the final round.
The House officially adopted rules on Monday in a 220–213 vote. As Breitbart News reported, those rules were focused on “reducing government spending, increasing legislative transparency, and shifting power away from leadership and toward rank-and-file members.”
“Congress has been broken for a long time. Over the years, a concentration of power within the Speaker’s Office has kept lawmakers on the legislative sidelines. Lawmaking should be open to all members—not just a select few—so that the best ideas win,” McCarthy said in a statement, noting that the rule changes include the end of proxy voting — something celebrated by some conservative lawmakers. --->READ MORE HERE
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| AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File |
The Pentagon formally dropped its COVID-19 vaccination mandate Tuesday, but a new memo signed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also gives commanders some discretion in how or whether to deploy troops who are not vaccinated.
Austin’s memo has been widely anticipated ever since legislation signed into law on Dec. 23 gave him 30 days to rescind the mandate. The Defense Department had already stopped all related personnel actions, such as discharging troops who refused the shot.
“The Department will continue to promote and encourage COVID-19 vaccination for all service members,” Austin said in the memo. “Vaccination enhances operational readiness and protects the force.”
Austin said that commanders have the authority to maintain unit readiness and a healthy force. He added, however, that other department policies — including mandates for other vaccines — remain in place. That includes, he said, “the ability of commanders to consider, as appropriate, the individual immunization status of personnel in making deployment, assignment, and other operational decisions, including when vaccination is required for travel to, or entry into, a foreign nation.”
The contentious political issue, which has divided America, forced more than 8,400 troops out of the military for refusing to obey a lawful order when they declined to get the vaccine. Thousands of others sought religious and medical exemptions. Austin’s memo ends those exemption requests. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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