HR511Referred to Committee

AMERICANS Act

Share:
Introduced
In Committee
3
Passed One Chamber
4
Passed Both
5
Signed into Law
119th
Congress
2025-01-16
Introduced
29
Cosponsors
HR
ⓘ
Type

Sponsor

Pat Harrigan
Pat Harrigan
Republican · NC · Representative
Votes with party: 92.1% (597 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/H001101

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (29)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

29 cosponsors on record at Congress.gov. The named list is syncing into Govwatch and will appear here shortly — view on Congress.gov in the meantime.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.

2025-01-16

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

Currently in

Plain-English 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This bill prohibits the Department of Defense (DOD) from issuing any COVID-19 vaccine mandate as a replacement for the rescinded vaccine mandate of August 24, 2021, unless the mandate is expressly authorized by Congress.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process for remedies for members of the Armed Forces who were discharged or subject to adverse action under the rescinded mandate.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.

Plain-English rewrite of the Congressional Research Service summary published on Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed.

Subjects

Armed Forces and National Security
Full bill text is not yet cached locally.
Open text viewRead on Congress.gov

Related legislation

Bills by the same sponsor or covering overlapping subjects.