Senate passes defense policy bill that bans gender-affirming care for transgender children of service membershttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-passes-defense-policy-bill-that-bans-gender-affirming-care-for-transgender-children-of-service-members/ar-AA1w6BW2?ocid=windirect&cvid=20d7c893e11b4781878f0abec4c14d2a&ei=38Story by Clare Foran and Annie Grayer (18 Dec 2024)
The Senate voted on Wednesday to pass a critical defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a ban against gender-affirming care for transgender children of service members – a provision pushed by Republicans that sparked anger from Democrats.
The legislation will next be sent to President Joe Biden after the measure passed the GOP-led House last week. The White House hasn't said whether Biden will sign the bill.
The legislation, which was the result of a bipartisan compromise, includes a provision that would prevent the military's health program, TRICARE, from covering gender-affirming care for transgender children of service members. The effort to prohibit these treatments to children has overshadowed some of the bipartisan provisions of the bill, including a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members.
Some Democrats said they would not vote for the legislation this year as a result of the ban on gender-affirming care, while others said that although they opposed the provision, they would still vote for the sweeping bill, citing other provisions they supported, like pay raises for service members. A group of Democratic senators led by Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin put forward an amendment to strip out the ban, but the push was unsuccessful.
