Captain Heelspurs’ legislators are playing toxic messaging games with the health care of the children of military service members.
(https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CCfPkJs7rXe7-95oceE7RnMhxhME2hFz)
This provision to ban TRICARE and other Defense Department health plans from covering care for servicemembers’ trans children was first slipped into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bill this summer. It should have been stripped out during negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, but it survived, maybe because the bill is almost 1500 pages, and this issue was on page 457.
Although the NDAA contains a number of improvements for the lives of service members and their families, which will undoubtedly be stripped out by Musk’s DOGE, it mostly reads like a mini-Project 2025. The denial of health care to specific members of military families is now part of the final agreed-upon legislation, along with other toxic GOP nonsense, like removing DEI (and here), critical race theory and consideration of climate change. These are all issues considered vital to actual military people, unlike twits in suits with flag pins.
Six knuckleheaded Democrats compromised this week to help the GOP pass this steaming pile through the House. They are Cuellar, Davis (NC), Golden (ME), Vicente Gonzalez (TX), Peltola (AK), Perez (WA). If you are their peeps, be sure to call them!
Action #1 – This nonsense has been passed in the House! Call your SENATORS!
Minimal call or email script to your senators : I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Senator [___] to vote “NO” on any parts of National Defense Authorization Act legislation, either H.R.5009 which contains discriminatory provisions banning medically necessary health care for the transgender children of military families, along any other issues that actual military leaders believe are vital to armed forces in the 21st century, such as DEI (and here), critical race theory and consideration of climate change.
More if you want it: The language from the FY25 National Defense Authorization Act is an insult to military service members who put their lives on the line, by implying that grandstanding legislators know more than they and their children’s doctors do about what’s best for their kids.
More if you want it: Access to this care, which is supported by the American Medical Association and every other leading medical organization in this country, is critical to the health and wellbeing of transgender family members. At the same time, the cost of providing this care is de minimis, constituting only a tiny fraction of the overall healthcare budget. This measure serves no purpose other than to target military families and to politicize an issue that should never be subject to partisan gamesmanship: our obligation to those who serve in our nation’s armed forces. This ban will cause irreversible harm to military families, set a destructive political precedent, and undermine our national security. We call on you to do all you can to oppose this unconscionable betrayal of our servicemembers.
Contacts
Action #2 – Email Joe and tell him not to sign a bill that discriminates against kids!
Contact Joe here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Dear Joe,
Please publicly give notice that you will veto any National Defense Authorization Act legislation that arrives on your desk which includes health care discrimination against the transgender children of our service members.
Parents who are brave and smart enough to serve in our armed forces are more than capable of making these choices for their own families after consulting with their children’s doctors. They do not need twits in suits with little flag pins who have never served a day in their lives to interfere in these decisions.
It is an article of faith in the armed services that they leave no soldier behind in wartime. Extend that commitment to their kids, before they are harmed as collateral damage of the GOP’s merciless culture war to divide us!
Joe, do not let discrimination against children be part of your legacy.
Thank you!
Action #3 Extra Credit – Thank your HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES for NOT voting for this!
It’s important for your legislators to get back up from their constituents when they have to make hard or risky decisions. Tell them that you have their back! (Thank you, Rep. Brownley!)
Minimal call or email script to your representative : I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to thank Rep. [___] for voting “NO” on H.R.5009 Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement.
I’m glad Rep. [___] caught that it contained discriminatory provisions banning medically necessary health care for the transgender children of military families, along with a lot of other issues that actual military leaders believe are vital to modern armed forces.
Who’s fighting this?
Smith Statement on Passage of Rule for FY25 NDAA
December 10, 2024: WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement regarding today’s passage of the rule for the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (FY25 NDAA).
“As I said a few days ago, blanketly denying health care to people who need it—just because of a biased notion against transgender people—is wrong. 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. For that reason, I will oppose final passage of the FY25 NDAA in its current form.
“Speaker Johnson had a clear path to considering a bill that reflected the true spirit of bipartisan compromise that has ensured that Congress has provided for the common defense for the past 63 years. Rather than take that path and ensure service members and military families get the support they need and deserve, he chose to pander to the most extreme elements of his party in an attempt to retain his speakership.
“Speaker Johnson would rather secure his own future than easily pass a bill on suspension that invests in the greatest sources of America’s strength: service members and their families, science and technology, modernization, and a commitment to allies and partners.
“Let me be clear; I am proud of the bipartisan work done to secure a 14.5 percent pay raise for junior enlisted service members and 4.5 percent pay raise for all other service members. I am proud that this bill takes important steps to improve housing, health care, childcare, and spousal support for service members and military families. I am proud that we were successful in blocking many other harmful provisions that attacked DEI programs, the LGBTQ community, and women’s access to reproductive health care. That work all required bipartisan compromise. Unfortunately, the Speaker has upended that process and injected a highly partisan provision not traditionally seen in the final defense bill.”
S.4638 Sec. 709. Prohibition of coverage under TRICARE program of certain
medical procedures for children that could
result in sterilization.
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 