The house took a bill of $ 895 billion on Wednesday, despite a considerable opposition to Democrats about language that limits the gender that confirms medical care for transgender children.
Most Democrats voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, which outlines the Pentagon policy for the year. The bill started with a Bipartisan voting of 281-140, but the legislators in both parties said it would probably have gone through without the issue of the Cultural War.
“Big brother, big government attacks such as they just don’t belong in this bill,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), That chairman of the Caucus of the House for Equality. He argued that Republican leadership gave priority to ‘right -wing extremist dogma over national defense’.
The suspension in the bill – which took months of negotiations between the parties – focuses on a provision that would prohibit the Tricare Health System of the army from covering gender dys forests “that can lead to sterilization” for children under the age of 18. Democrats have accused speaker Mike Johnson, who insisted on the provision, of trying to strengthen conservative support so that he could keep his hammer next year.
Proponents of the provision claim that the financing of medical care for transgender people is a derivation of the most important mission of the army to wage wars. The measure is opposed by dozens of LGBTQ+ and other interest groups. They claim that the potentially life -saving treatment for transgender youth would remove and forcing troops with transgender children to leave the service.
Ranking House Armed Services Democrat Adam Smith called the measure “intolerant to the trans -community” and said that it would undermine another two -part account.
“The medical profession has no dispute that in some cases this treatment is crucial for the health and well -being of our children,” he said. “And we now deny that to the children of Service Members.”
Huis Armed Services chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) Also pronounced dismay in the recording of the provision, with the argument that President-Elect Donald Trump could easily reverse it, and many other personnel policy, when he returns to the White House .
“We would have 375, 380 votes, but for that one provision, which is not relevant after January 20,” Rogers told reporters prior to the vote on Tuesday.
The agreement now goes to the Senate, which is expected to vote next week. Although some democratic senators can be influenced by the problem of transgender healthcare, the bill will probably still pass.
The defense law is one of the few large documents to pass reliably every year, and some Democrats were difficult to oppose it. The legislation includes an extension of wages and benefits, including a wage increase of 14.5 percent for junior troops engaged at the top of a wage increase of 4.5 percent for the rest of the army.
Despite the partisan split, the Compromis Act drops many of the by the conservative support of the Cultural War that were included in an earlier version that Republicans have muscular through the house in June, largely past festive lines.
Negotiators dropped the most fiercely disputed provisions, such as proposals to roll back the policy of the Pentagon to repay the costs for troops travel to obtain abortions, to hide the Ministry of Defense to confirm gender who confirm transgender troops And the diversity and inclusion of the agency to seal the agency, shares and inclusion efforts.
The agreement includes provisions that prohibit the Pentagon to endorse the critical racing theory in every DOD-Runned Academic Institutions and Military Training. The bill also includes an annual hiring freezing for diversity, shares and inclusion-related positions in the Pentagon, where a provision was adopted last year.
On Wednesday, 81 Democrats saw Republicans to adopt the legislation, while 16 Republicans broke ranks to oppose it.
The bill holds on to the limit for the National Defense expenditure that legislators have established under the debt limit agreement last year – and equal to the amount that President Joe Biden asked in his final budget. It authorizes $ 850 billion for the Base Pentagon budget and another $ 33.5 billion for nuclear weapons programs under the energy department. Another $ 11.6 billion within that limit goes to Defense activities in other agencies, for a total of $ 895 billion.
Negotiators ultimately suspended a proposed increase of $ 25 billion for the price tag of the account that was pushed by the Senate Armed Services Committee that rank Republican Roger Wicker. But the legislation only authorizes Pentagon, and a bill for credits must still succeed in financing the army for the entire tax year of 2025. The legislators were able to work to increase the budget of the Pentagon if they will complete full defense spending for defense spending in the coming months.
The bill also authorizes Pentagon programs, including ships and aircraft. The deal authorizes a second attack submarine of Virginia class, an area of dual agreement on both armed services of the house and the Senate. The laws also agreed to authorize a third Destroyer of the Arleigh Burke class, from the Navy’s request for two of the ships. And they have cut a proposed $ 1.2 billion for the delayed frigate of the constellation class, leaving only $ 50 million for the program.
The laws gave a green light to a Biden administration plan to transfer Air National Guard units that perform space emissions to the Space Force without the permission of Governors, despite the opposition to all 50 state governors and security officers.
