Fourteen Democratic senators will introduce an amendment Monday night to remove language from Congress’ massive defense spending bill that aims to ban coverage of gender-affirming care for transgender children of servicemembers, Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s office said , D-Wis. NBC News.
The 1,800-page National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, passed the House of Representatives last week on a vote of 281 to 140, with 200 Republicans and 81 Democrats voting “yes” and 124 Democrats and 16 Republicans voting “no.” The $895 billion bill authorizes the annual budget for the Department of Defense and sets defense policy for the coming year.
The group of 14 senators, led by Baldwin — who will be the Senate’s only LGBTQ member in the new term — is seeking to remove a provision tucked into the bill that “prohibits medical treatment for service members under the age of 18 who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria” under the Tricare military health care program.
“Let’s be clear: We are talking about parents who serve our country in uniform and have earned the right to make the best decisions for their families. I trust our service members and their physicians to make the best health care decisions for their children, not politicians,” Baldwin said in a statement. “Our amendment would protect the right of military families to make their own decisions and access sometimes life-saving care for their children.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pushed publicly and behind the scenes for the provision to be added to the defense spending bill, which was being negotiated by senior House and Senate leaders Senate of both parties. In a statement after last week’s House vote, Johnson said the legislation prioritizes “military lethality, not radical woke ideology.” This legislation permanently bans the treatment of transgender minors, bans critical race theory at military academies, ends the DEI bureaucracy, and combats anti-Semitism.”
If the amendment remains in the NDAA, this would be one of the first times Congress has passed a federal statute targeting transgender people. President Joe Biden will sign or veto the bill if it passes the Senate, which will vote on it this week before leaving Washington for the rest of the year; the NDAA must be approved by January 1.
A draft of a press release shared with NBC News — and scheduled to be made public Monday evening — from Baldwin’s office said that if the transgender health care provision survives, it could impact 6,000 to 7,000 children of U.S. service members. Modern Military Association of America, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ military members and veterans, estimates there are approximately 10,000 trans youth between the ages of 6 and 22 whose parents are active military personnel.
In recent weeks, Congress has repeatedly argued over the rights of transgender people, who make up just 0.5% of all Americans over the age of 18, according to the Williams Institute. With the election of the first transgender member of Congress, Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., House Republicans have introduced a measure to ban transgender people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity in the Capitol complex. Some Democrats have also battled with each other over whether the party’s stance on trans rights played a role in Vice President Kamala Harris’ election loss.
The amendment to remove the trans health provision from the defense bill will be co-sponsored by Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Cory Booker and Andy Kim of New Jersey, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Patty Murray of Washington, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Tina Smith of Minnesota , Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, according to a statement from Baldwin’s office.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
