House passes massive $858 billion defense bill that would scrap military Covid vaccine mandate ...

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Source: CNBC

POLITICS

House passes massive $858 billion defense bill that would scrap military Covid vaccine mandate, teeing up Senate vote

PUBLISHED THU, DEC 8 2022 * 1:44 PM EST * UPDATED 14 MIN AGO

Christina Wilkie
@CHRISTINAWILKIE
https://twitter.com/christinawilkie

KEY POINTS
-- The House passed an $858 billion bill to fund the Defense Department, sending it to the Senate.
-- The measure includes a provision to scrap the Pentagon’s Covid vaccine mandate for active duty servicemembers.
-- Biden is expected to sign the legislation despite his support for the vaccine mandate.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House has passed a massive bill to fund the Defense Department for fiscal year 2023, teeing up a final vote in the Senate in the coming days that would send the $858 billion behemoth to President Joe Biden’s desk, where he is expected to sign it.

The bill passed the Democratic-controlled House with a strong bipartisan majority, 350 in favor to 80 votes against it.

Among the more than 4,000 pages of legislation is a requirement that the Pentagon drop its Covid vaccine mandate for active duty servicemembers within 30 days of its enactment.

The mandate, originally put in place last year, recently emerged as a lightning rod for conservative Republicans, who threatened to sink the entire bill if it wasn’t rescinded.

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Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/08/house-passes-defense-bill-that-would-scrap-covid-vaccine-mandate.html