Ban on military insurance funding transgender care for kids set to become law after Senate passage

The Senate passed a multi-billion-dollar defense bill that includes a ban on military healthcare paying for gender affirming care for minors, setting the stage for President Joe Biden’s signature on a policy that has been controversial to the Democratic base.

The measure passed with bipartisan support, with 85 senators in favor and 14 voting against it, as a provision in a larger bill on defense issues that some lawmakers said should be brining even more government funding to the Pentagon.

A dozen senators led a last-ditch effort to strike the measure that would ban the military’s health insurance program from funding gender affirming care for the children of servicemembers. But the group’s proposed amendment did not get a vote by the Senate, and the measure was passed as part of the larger Defense bill that historically gets bipartisan support.

“I, for one, trust these service members and their families to make their own decisions about healthcare without politicians butting in,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat who led the fight. “It’s flat out wrong to put this provision in this bill and take away a servicemember’s freedom to make that decision for their families.”

The policy is part of an annual 1,800-page bill that sets the Pentagon’s policies for how it will spend $895.2 billion.

Republicans blast ‘woke’ ideology in the military

Republicans added some other amendments to combat what they have lambasted as “woke” ideology in the military, including a prohibition on the military using funds to “endorse critical race theory.” Conservatives loosely group diversity and anti-racism education under the term “critical race theory.”

More: Culture wars: House Republicans attack Defense Department for ‘woke’ social policies

Some senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the bill’s price tag is too low. Not increasing the military’s budget was a “tremendous missed opportunity” for Senate Republicans, he said in a statement on Monday.

Also included in the package are a 4.5% pay raise for all military servicemembers and a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted servicemembers. The bill also includes $100 million in funding for historically black colleges and universities and other minority serving institutions.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Senate passes ban on military insurance funding transgender care for kids