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H.R. 511: AMERICANS Act
119th Congress · introduced 2025-01-16 · Armed Forces and National Security · Latest: Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.
federal
Official title
AMERICANS Act
Plain summary
Allowing Military Exemptions, Recognizing Individual Concerns About New Shots Act of 2025 or the AMERICANS Act This bill prohibits the Department of Defense (DOD) from issuing any COVID-19 vaccine mandate as a replacement for the rescinded vaccine mandate of August 24, 2021, unless the mandate is expressly authorized by Congress. The bill also provides that DOD must establish an application process for remedies for members of the Armed Forces who were discharged or subject to adverse action under the rescinded mandate. Any administrative discharge of a member on the sole basis of a failure to receive a COVID-19 vaccine must be categorized as an honorable discharge, and DOD is prohibited from taking any adverse action against such a member for that reason. DOD must try to retain unvaccinated members and provide such members with professional development, promotion and leadership opportunities, and consideration equal to that of their peers. Additionally, DOD may only consider the COVID-19 vaccination status of members in making certain decisions (e.g., deployments in countries where it is the law) and must establish a process to provide exemptions to certain members for such decisions. Members who were separated from the Armed Forces for refusing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine are not required to repay any bonuses and must be reimbursed if they repaid any portion of a bonus prior to this bill's enactment. This bill applies to all members of the Armed Forces, regardless of whether they sought an accommodation to any DOD COVID-19 vaccination policy.
Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.
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Officials and money
Sponsor: Rep. Harrigan, Pat [R-NC-10] · 29 cosponsors
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Words on this page, explained (2)
- Bill
- A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
- Exemption
- A rule that removes certain people, property or activities from a tax or requirement.
Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.
Sources
- Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
- Congress.gov
- Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-119hr511.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/hr>
Record fed-us-cong119-hr511 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong119 · updated 2026-11-03 by psicol fed-bills