House Shields Pentagon’s K-12 Schools from Transgenderism

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass an annual defense bill, which included a provision to exclude transgender treatments to children in the Pentagon’s huge network of K-12 schools.

Democrats such as Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) complained about being pressured to endorse the popular safeguards for soldiers’ children, according to Politico.

Rep. Smith criticized Republicans for “taking advantage of a partisan wedge issue.”

“At the end of the day, you still have language in the bill that says we’re going to blanketly deny health care to people who clearly need it, just because of a sort of biased notion against the trans community,” Smith explained.

In a 281-140, the House approved the 1,800-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), according to CBS News. Out of the 281 lawmakers who voted to approve the bill, 81 Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while 200 Republicans voted in favor, according to the outlet.

Breitbart News’s Katherine Hamilton previously reported:

The provision of the 1,800-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibits coverage under TRICARE, a healthcare program for service members, for “certain medical procedures for children that could result in sterilization.”

“Affirming hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and other medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization may not be provided to a child under the age of 18,” the bill reads.

The legislation details how $895.2 billion will be allocated toward defense and national security, with much of it focusing on bipartisan quality-of-life improvements for service members as the military continues to struggle with recruitment.

“Today, I voted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act,” Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) wrote in a post on X. “This bill ensures our military readiness and gives our armed forces the resources they need to counter America’s adversaries.”

“It will give our junior enlisted troops a 14.5% pay raise,” Kustoff added. “This year’s #NDAA guarantees the United States will remain the Leader of the Free World.”

Other lawmakers, such as Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) and Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), praised the NDAA as ensuring the United States “military has the resources needed to defend our nation against our adversaries,” while others such as Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX) criticized the bill as being “politicized.”

“I just voted to pass the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act, which ensures our military has the resources needed to defend our nation against our adversaries,” Valadao wrote in a post on X. “The bill also provides quality-of-life improvements and a well-deserved pay raise for our troops.”

“Today, I voted NO on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA),” Veasey wrote in a post on X. “In years past, I’ve worked in a bipartisan way to ensure our military has the resources it needs, while also supporting our servicemembers. But today’s NDAA has been politicized.”