'I will seek the president’s approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September, or immediately upon' licensure by the Food and Drug Administration 'whichever comes first,' Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says in the memo to troops, warning them to prepare for the requirement. 'I will not hesitate to act sooner or recommend a different course to the President if l feel the need to do so.'Biden is expected to give the greenlight, given other recent federal mandates for civilian workers. The memo also serves to give military commands a heads up in terms of putting in place proper logistics and assessing what's needed to implement the new plan on large scale.
A $715 billion discretionary top-line would amount to a decrease of about 0.4% in real terms, adjusting for inflation from this year’s enacted appropriations of about $704 billion. That’s in contrast to a push for 3% to 5% real annual increases in national security spending endorsed by then-Defense Secretary James Mattis in 2017.As for the aforementioned progressive pushback, they are pointing to the astounding waste that in the reality has little to do with defending the American people, but more to do with handing out huge contracts and fattening up the military-industrial complex.
