Biden reluctantly signs bigoted defense funding bill
President Joe Biden signed a defense bill on Monday that prohibits coverage of transgender health care for children of military families while providing pay raises for junior enlisted service members and boosting military spending to $895 billion.
The provision removing coverage for transgender children was slyly inserted by House Republicans and while Biden endorsed most of the bill’s provisions, he voiced strong objections to that contentious addition.
"While I am pleased to support the critical objectives of the act, I note that certain provisions of the act raise concerns,” he said in a statement.
Biden "strongly opposes" the part of the bill that limits transgender health care and said it will negatively affect the military’s recruiting abilities.
“The provision targets a group based on that group’s gender identity and interferes with parents’ roles to determine the best care for their children,” he said. “This section undermines our all-volunteer military’s ability to recruit and retain the finest fighting force the world has ever known by denying health care coverage to thousands of our service members’ children. No service member should have to decide between their family’s health care access and their call to serve our Nation.”
Biden’s statement comes as Republicans in Congress and President-elect Donald Trump have made transgender care a flashpoint in political rhetoric—and a target via legislation.
“With the stroke of my pen on day one, we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy,” Trump said at a Turning Point USA rally on Sunday in Phoenix. “I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools.”
After House Republicans snuck anti-transgender language into the sweeping defense bill earlier this month, Adam Smith, Democratic Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, balked at it.
“Blanketly denying health care to people who need it—just because of a biased notion against transgender people—is wrong,” Smith said. “The inclusion of this harmful provision puts the lives of children at risk and may force thousands of service members to make the choice of continuing their military service or leaving to ensure their child can get the health care they need.”
Republicans’ insertion of the anti-transgender provision into a must-pass defense bill was a calculated move. Biden had little choice but to sign, given its importance for military personnel and national security. While Biden stood firm in supporting the broader bill, the reality is that transgender Americans have lost significant rights. This is likely only the beginning of a political battle in which Democrats are losing ground to an incoming administration set on removing transgender rights and recognition.