The GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed its annual defense spending bill Wednesday, including a key culture-war caveat: a ban on transgender medical treatments for minor children of U.S. service members.
The provision in the 1,800-page bill states that “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,” referring to the transgender children of military personnel.
Republicans argued that taxpayer dollars should not fund potentially experimental and harmful procedures for minors.
House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., praised the passage of the defense measure, though it now heads to the Senate for approval in the Democrat-run chamber.
HOUSE PASSES NEARLY $1 TRILLION DEFENSE SPENDING BILL, ADDING TO U.S. DEBT OF $36 TRILLION
The House passed a nearly $1 trillion defense spending budget with a provision that bans transgender treatment for dependent children of U.S. service members. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Our men and women in uniform should know their first obligation is protecting our nation, not woke ideology,” Johnson said in a statement after the measure passed.
While the provision was a win for Republicans that could further push President-Elect Donald Trump’s policy agenda, the measure did not incorporate several other Republican-backed provisions related to social issues. Notably absent were efforts to ban TRICARE, the military’s health program, from covering transgender treatments for adults and a proposal to overturn the Pentagon’s hotly-debated policy of reimbursing travel expenses for service members seeking abortions stationed in states where the procedure is restricted.
Democrats were largely outraged by the provision to strip TRICARE from service members’ transgender children, with the House Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith, vowing to vote against the bill on Tuesday despite helping on other…
