House approves $895B defense bill with military pay raise, ban on transgender care for minors
A massive $895 billion defense spending bill cleared the House of Representatives on Wednesday with provisions that would ban transgender medical treatments for minors and raise military pay.
The must-pass legislation to fund the military for the next fiscal year passed in bipartisan 281-140 vote, with 200 Republicans and 81 Democrats supporting the measure.
The bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), faces an end-of-month deadline to clear Congress and be signed into law by President Biden.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) indicated that the defense spending package may be taken up for a vote in the upper chamber early next week.
The House-passed measure authorizes a 1% increase in defense spending and 14.5% pay raises for junior enlisted service members, or about half of US troops.
Other enlisted service members would be eligible for a 4.5% bump in pay.
The NDAA bill also includes funding for US joint military exercises with Israel and would prohibit the Pentagon from citing casualty numbers tabulated by the Hamas terror group.
It also appropriates new funds for child care and housing for US troops.
“No service member should have to live in squalid conditions and no military family should have to rely on food stamps to feed their children, but that’s exactly what many of our service members are experiencing, especially the junior enlisted,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, (R-Ala.) said. “This bill goes a long way to fixing that.”
Several Democratic lawmakers bristled at the inclusion of a measure that would bar TRICARE, the military’s health care program, from covering transgender medical procedures for the children of active-duty members.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, voted against the bill over the transgender treatment provision.
“These treatments changed their lives and in many cases saved their lives,” Smith said of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for children. “And in this bill, we decided we’re going to bar servicemembers’ children from having access to that.”
Smith argued that the ban “taints an otherwise excellent piece of legislation.”
Meanwhile, conservative lawmakers, such as Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), celebrated the ban.
“I think these questions need to be pulled out of the debate of defense, so we can get back to the business of defending the United States of America without having to deal with social engineering debates,” Roy said.
The NDAA also includes a provision that would ban the teaching of critical race theory in the military.
“In this year’s NDAA, we will end CRT by stripping funding for its teaching and promotion within our military!” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) wrote on X.
“I have fought hard to get rid of it,” the congresswoman added. “CRT is a harmful ideology that spreads racial divides in our country. Our service members do not need this NONSENSE.”
