Biden signs defense bill repealing military vaccine mandate

President Joe Biden signed an $847 billion defense policy bill on Friday, killing his own administration’s mandate that troops receive the Covid vaccine.

The National Defense Authorization Act, which prescribes military policy and budget priorities each year, cleared Congress this month with overwhelming bipartisan support. The compromise bill also prescribes a whopping $45 billion increase to the defense budget proposed by the Biden administration and would mark a roughly 10 percent increase in military spending over last year.

Biden’s signature, announced by the White House in a statement, marks the 62nd straight year a defense bill has been enacted.

Though the commander-in-chief approved the legislation, the administration has aired grievances with Congress over a variety of provisions.

Chief among those policy differences is a provision requiring the Pentagon’s vaccine mandate, issued in August 2021 by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, to be repealed within 30 days of becoming law.