The annual defense spending bill was passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday. It included a key culture-war caveat: it would not cover transgender medical care for children of U.S. military members.
“Medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization may not be provided to a child under the age of 18,” the 1,800-page bill says. This part of the bill is about transgender children of military personnel.
Republicans said that government money shouldn’t be used to pay for procedures on minors that could be harmful or experimental.
The defense bill was passed, and House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., praised it. It now goes to the Senate, which is run by Democrats, to be approved there.
Johnson said in a statement after the bill passed, “Our men and women in uniform should know their first duty is to protect our nation, not woke ideology.”
The Republicans won with this provision, which could help President-Elect Donald Trump’s policy agenda. However, the bill did not include other social issues provisions backed by Republicans. There were no attempts to stop TRICARE, the military’s health program, from paying for transgender treatments for adults, and there was also no plan to change the Pentagon’s controversial policy of paying for service members’ travel to get abortions in states where the procedure is illegal.
Democrats were horrified by the part of the bill that would take away TRICARE from transgender children of service members. Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, promised to vote against the bill on Tuesday, even though he helped with other parts of it. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is the minority leader in the House, did not tell his party members whether to vote for or against it.
The UN’s Human Rights Council (HRC) also wasn’t happy with the move and called it a “attack” on military families.
“This cruel and hateful bill suddenly strips away access to medical care for families that members of our armed forces are counting on, and it could force service members to choose between staying in the military or providing health care for their children,” Kelley Robinson, HRC president, said in a statement.
How the Senate reacts to the transgender treatment provision will have a big impact on what the defense policy for the next budget year actually says. If it passes, it will be in line with what Trump says about the military’s “woke” policies.
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a first-of-its-kind case about Tennessee’s ban on transgender medical procedures for children. This could make the procedures even less permissible.
By a vote of 281 to 140, the $884 billion National Defense Authorization Act was passed. It sets policies for the Defense Department. 124 Democrats and 16 Republicans voted against it.
There are also limits on hiring people based on diversity, fairness, and inclusion, as well as on teaching critical race theory in schools run by the military. A 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted soldiers, easier access to child care, and better job assistance for military spouses are some of the other policies that were passed. These policies reflect a year of bipartisan focus on solving record-high recruitment problems.
