House passes major military funding despite trans controversy

The House passed the National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday night with bipartisan support despite pushback from both sides of the aisle.

The NDAA passed the House in a 281-140 vote authorizing over $895 billion in defense spending. Although both parties had problems with the bill, more Democrats voted against the NDAA due to Republican Speaker Mike Johnson's last-minute provision that prohibits the military's health care system from providing taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for minors.

'We also believe it’s important to refocus the Pentagon on military lethality, not radical woke ideology.'

"Our men and women in uniform should know their first obligation is protecting our nation, not woke ideology," Johnson said in a Thursday post on X. "It’s disappointing to see 124 of my Democrat colleagues vote against our brave men and women in uniform over policies that have nothing to do with their intended mission."

Over the course of months of negotiations, the NDAA was stripped of other controversial provisions.

"We also believe it’s important to refocus the Pentagon on military lethality, not radical woke ideology," Johnson continued. "This legislation permanently bans transgender treatment for minors, prohibits critical race theory in military academies, ends the DEI bureaucracy, and combats antisemitism."

Many of the 124 Democrats who opposed this restriction accused Republicans of "restricting health care access," a euphemism for severe and irreversible treatments that, as Johnson pointed out, often result in the sterilization of the child, in addition to other permanent side effects.

"We should be supporting our service members and military families who sacrifice so much for us — not restricting health care access and undermining our military readiness, retention, and recruitment," Democratic Rep. Sarah Jacobs of California said in a Wednesday post on X. "That’s why I voted against this year’s NDAA."

Other Democrats like Rep. Adam Smith of Washington called the provision "bigoted against the trans community" and called the transgender treatments "crucial to the health and well-being of our children."

Of the 16 Republicans who voted against the NDAA, several cited concerns over the exorbitant price tag, while others said the bill simply did not go far enough to combat the "woke ideology."

"I voted no on the NDAA," Republican Rep. Chip Roy (Texas) said in a Wednesday post on X. "It was better because of our hard work and I thank [Speaker Johnson] for holding spending power lower than the Senate & fighting child mutilation. But it is not good enough yet. More to do."

Although Johnson was able to amend some of the woke language in the legislation, the NDAA still allows transgender treatments for adults and upholds a Pentagon policy that reimburses troops who traveled to obtain abortions.

"This NDAA fails to terminate the current military abortion travel policy, continued biased diversity, equity, and inclusion practices and positions at the Pentagon, and does nothing to prohibit taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for those serving," Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana said in a press release Wednesday. "On top of that, it continued to fund the heinous practice of indefinite detainment of American citizens. This legislation is not only unserious but also unconstitutional."

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