The Senate has passed a divisive new defense spending bill that directs $895bn towards the Pentagon for the coming year, despite Democratic objections to a provision buried within it that blocks the transgender children of servicemen and women from receiving health coverage to treat gender dysphoria.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed through the House of Representatives last week and the upper chamber of Congress on Wednesday by 85 votes to 14 and will now make its way to President Joe Biden’s Resolute Desk in the Oval Office to be signed into law.
But while the NDAA includes such positive measures as pay rises for both junior and senior enlisted members and authorizes $33.5bn for new battleships, $17.5bn for military construction projects and $143bn for research, development and weapons testing, its anti-trans clause, reportedly added at the insistence of House Speaker Mike Johnson, caused disquiet.
The provision blocks TRICARE, the US military’s healthcare plan for its members, from providing “medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization” for children under 18.
Its inclusion inspired 11 Democrats and three Republicans to vote it down, with Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin, herself a veteran, leading the rebellion on the Senate floor and tabling an amendment to exclude it that was ultimately not granted a vote.
“It’s flat-out wrong to put this provision in this bill and take away a service member’s freedom to make that decision for their families,” Baldwin said, estimating the act’s consequences could impact as many as 6,000 to 7,000 military families.
“It’s unfortunate that some of our colleagues decided to force this harmful provision in this National Defense Authorization Act, because otherwise, I would have been proud to support it.”
Making a case for supporting the bill anyway, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said: “Everyone knows this NDAA is not perfect, but it still takes a strong stand against the Chinese Communist Party.”
He also cited the bill authorizing a Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, bolstering nuclear modernization and Indo-Pacific sea-power and supporting technological innovation in the military as reasons to back it.
Speaker Johnson’s intervention is effectively a watered-down version of a restriction on transgender healthcare in the Armed Forces that House Republicans attempted to introduce in June.
He made two further demands on the NDAA that upset lawmakers: dropping a provision that would have expanded access to IVF for service members and insisting that the overall price of the legislation did not exceed congressionally-imposed limits.
One member of the chamber who was particularly frustrated by the latter was Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has spent his final weeks in Washington arguing for greater military investment in response to a more hostile geopolitical environment, exemplified by the outbreak of wars in Ukraine and Gaza in recent years.
McConnell had wanted the bill to authorize an extra $25bn and said: “The absence of the Senate-backed increase to top-line investments will go down as a tremendous missed opportunity.
“Artificial budget restraints mean that major bill provisions like a pay raise for enlisted service members will come at the expense of investments in the critical weapons systems and munitions that deter conflict and keep them safe.”
