The Senate’s annual defense policy bill would ban the military from paying for surgeries for transgender soldiers, a move made possible by Sen. Joe Manchin, R-Indiana, who joined Republicans in a committee vote.
The bill, added in a private amendment by the Senate Armed Services Committee last month to the bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), would “prohibit funds available to the Department of Defense and Department of Defense facilities from being used to perform or facilitate gender reassignment surgeries,” according to the bill text released Monday night.
Lawmakers also included language that would prohibit the military health care system from providing hormone therapy, puberty suppressants, and “any other medical intervention for the treatment of gender dysphoria that may lead to sterilization” to transgender children of military personnel under the age of 18.
Both amendments passed on a 13-12 vote, with Manchin siding with all 12 Republicans on the committee.
Another provision that would have prohibited changes to gender on Defense Department records failed along party lines in a 12-13 vote.
It is surprising that this language is included in the Senate NDAA, which has yet to be passed by the full House.
The Republican-controlled House has repeatedly sought to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender military members, and the House passed a bill last month that included culture war provisions as well as efforts to curtail such services.
But the Senate Armed Services Committee has so far been able to block such amendments that were included in the NDAA under the Democratic-led committee.
Similar provisions in the two bills raise the possibility that restrictions on gender-affirming care for LGBTQ+ military members and their families could become law.
The committee’s amendments are still far from concrete, but the bill still needs to be passed by the full Senate, reconciled with the House version and signed by the president to become law, setting the stage for a showdown between the two chambers over a bill that typically has bipartisan support.
The Senate NDAA also included several other controversial measures, such as banning the creation of new diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) positions or the filling of vacant positions. Similar language was included in the House bill.
Another set of proposed amendments would require women to register for the Selective Draft, but those proposals are unlikely to pass the full Senate and are not included in the House NDAA.
