Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) on Thursday pressed Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro on the impact diversity, equity, and inclusion courses and the COVID vaccine mandates have had on recruitment levels.
During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Schmitt wondered if the secretary was an “ally” for the “1,878 soldiers who were fired or the 3,746 Marines who were fired for not taking the Covid shot?”
“Sir, I followed the laws,” Del Toro replied. “They disobeyed the law.”
“Did they feel included,” the Republican senator followed up.
"They disobeyed a law," Del Toro reiterated.
"They were fired," Schmitt shot back.
"They were fired because they disobeyed the law,” Del Toro responded.
"Do you regret that? Do you regret that?" Schmitt wondered.
"As it currently exists, I have no regrets," the secretary said.
The Biden Administration’s obsession with DEI and firing thousands of well trained members of our military for not taking the COVID shot has hurt recruiting.
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) May 16, 2024
Unbelievably, Biden’s Secretary of the Navy has no regrets. pic.twitter.com/O00bS2iQbo
Schmitt's office noted that the Navy missed its Fiscal Year 2023 recruitment goal by 20 percent and is expected to fall short of their Fiscal Year 2024 goal of 40,600 by about 6,700 sailors.
Meanwhile, the Navy hosted a DEI Summit last year where Del Toro argued the Navy and Marine Corps can maintain their "strategic edge" by operationalizing "innovative and cohesive initiatives, rooted in DEI’s goals."
The woke are too often undeterred—even when confronted with the abject failure of their own, demonstrably harmful policies. https://t.co/vjlJHbdz1c
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) May 16, 2024
The Biden Administration has shown a shocking level of disrespect to our men and women in uniform. https://t.co/m63me7PiNQ
— Kelley Paul (@KelleyAshbyPaul) May 16, 2024
At long last, is there not one person in the Biden Regime that has any sense of moral decency? https://t.co/g3Z5X67r9O
— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) May 17, 2024