Barrett Introduces Bill To Restore Education Benefits for Service Members Discharged Over COVID Vaccine

Washington, D.C. — Congressman Tom Barrett (MI-07), Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization, today introduced the Patriots Over Politics Act. This bill will restore the rights of service members to transfer their unused GI Bill education benefits to their children if their military careers were cut short due to the Department of Defense’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. 

“Too many decorated veterans had their careers terminated when they were threatened with a dishonorable discharge for refusing Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate. On top of losing their careers, many of them also lost their ability to transfer their unused educational benefits to their children,” said Barrett. “I’m on a mission to right this injustice for every Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine, and Coast Guardsman who made a long-term commitment to serve, only to have the rug pulled out from under them.”

When a service member enlists, they get access to GI Bill benefits, including money for qualifying veterans and their family members to cover all or some of the costs for school or training. As a retention incentive, a service member may be eligible to transfer their unused GI Bill benefits to their spouse or children if they agree to serve an additional four years in the Armed Forces. However, thousands of service members who made that commitment lost their ability to fulfill it when they were involuntarily separated or pressured into retirement for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Patriots Over Politics Act corrects this injustice by allowing any service member who completed at least six years of service and left the military between August 24, 2021, and January 10, 2023, to transfer their G.I. Bill benefits to their children.

Congressman Barrett is joined in introducing this legislation by 13 of his colleagues.

Click here to read the bill text.

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