House passes defense bill with controversial provision on transgender healthcare
WASHINGTON - House Republicans passed an $895.2 billion defense policy bill on Wednesday that includes a contentious provision to ban certain types of medical care for transgender children of military service members.
The provision added to the National Defense Authorization Act prohibits TRICARE, the health care program for active-duty service members and their families, from covering medical interventions for gender dysphoria treatments that “could result in sterilization” to children under 18. TRICARE has about 9.5 million beneficiaries worldwide, according to the Military Health System.
It's likely that the provision will face tough hurdles in a Democrat-controlled Senate and is the latest proposal by Republicans to take aim at transgender issues.
Last month, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced a policy banning transgender people from using restrooms in parts of the Capitol that correspond with their gender. It came after Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced a resolution with a similar effort targeting Democrat Sarah McBride of Delaware, who was elected as the first openly transgender woman in Congress in November.
The transgender issue has also sparked clashes beyond Congress to the Supreme Court, where justices debated earlier this month on whether states can prevent transgender adolescents from using puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Conservative justices repeatedly suggested the issue should be left up to state legislatures.
The defense bill passed the House along party lines: 281 to 140. Two hundred Republicans and 81 Democrats voted yes on the bill, while 124 Democrats and 16 Republicans opposed it.
The bill also included bipartisan measures such as a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service troops and a 4.5% pay raise for all other members, and $100 million in funding for historically black colleges and military serving institutions. But it had other controversial proponents such as prohibiting funding to teach critical race theory in military schools.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, argued in a statement on Sunday that “blanketly denying health care to people who clearly need it, just because of a biased notion against transgender people, is wrong.” He called on Johnson to remove the transgender provision before votes.
House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., told the Hill that Johnson did not talk with him about inserting the provision in the bill, and added that “My preference would have been that we just let the president, on Jan. 20, deal with these.” But Johnson said in a statement last week that the bill would “end the radical woke ideology being imposed on our military.”
House Republicans coming out of votes expressed support for the provision and were confident the bill would pass the Senate.
“We shouldn't be doing that with taxpayer money in the, you know, via the NDAA. We shouldn't be providing, you know, mutilation type surgery and, you know, hormonal therapy and all this stuff to kids that you know, that they're not of age, they're not old enough to come to grips with the consequences of those decisions, and it's just it's irresponsible, and it just shouldn't be happening anywhere in this country,” said Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, who voted in support of the bill.
Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., echoed Jackson, noting that “They want to do that and they’re adults, that's fine. There’s all these list of things you’re not supposed to do until you're 18.”
“Some people might try to make a show of it, but I do believe it will pass the Senate,” he said, adding that a big priority for Republicans in January will be to “step away from all this woke stuff.”
But Democrats pushed back against the provision. “I think they just targeted the trans community as the boogeyman, the new boogeyman for them to attack and bully and weaponize this institution against,” said Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., who lost his re-election bid.
“I mean, they are going to try to include anti-trans legislation into every single thing that they do (in January),” Bowman, who voted against the bill, said. “It's going to be a part of everything.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oreg., has yet to vote on the bill and said he hasn’t looked at the provision. But he said he’s a “let live Democrat.”
“That means you let people make their own choices,” he said.
Contributing: Maureen Groppe, Paste BN