The U.S. Senate on Wednesday cleared a national defense authorization bill celebrated for troop pay raises but condemned by Democrats for targeting transgender children in military families, sending the bill to President Joe Biden’s desk.
Senators voted 83-12, with five not voting, to approve the $884.9 billion National Defense Authorization Act that received bipartisan praise for the pay bump, upgrades to military housing and investments in artificial intelligence and other advanced technology.
But the annual legislation drew ire this year from Democrats for a provision banning the military’s health program from covering certain treatments for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, defined by doctors as the mismatch between a person’s sex assigned at birth and the gender they experience in everyday life.
All Democrats present for the Dec. 11 U.S. House vote opposed the defense package, which passed along party lines under the Republican majority.
The White House has not released its position on the bill, as it generally does with legislation ready for the president’s signature.
You expected them to tank the yearly National Defense Authorization Act?! I’m quite certain there’s far more evil shit in this bill than denying care for transsexual kids.
Does anyone think any politician was zeroed in on this line item, among thousands?! It’s a monster bill, maybe the biggest of the year. Pols put riders in there, always have, always will. This is a shitty rider, and there are thousands, every year.
Want change? Let’s narrow the scope of bills to their intended purpose. Of course then our politicians don’t get to wheel and deal, and that’s what we’re hoping they do, for us. No easy answer to this.
This is bullshit.
Yes,.fucking scuttle the damn bill.