WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed an $895 billion measure Wednesday that authorizes a 1% increase in defense spending this fiscal year and would give double-digit pay raises to nearly half of enlisted service members in the military.
The bill is traditionally strongly bipartisan, but some Democratic lawmakers opposed banning transgender medical treatment for children of military members if such treatment could result in sterilization.
The bill passed the House by a vote of 281-140 and will now head to the Senate, where lawmakers sought a larger increase in defense spending than the current measure.
Lawmakers are introducing the bill’s 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% raise for others as a key to improving the quality of life for those serving in the U.S. military. Those serving as junior enlisted personnel are in pay grades that generally track with their first enlistment period.
Lawmakers said service member pay has failed to remain competitive with the private sector, forcing many military families to rely on food banks and government assistance programs to put food on the table. The bill also provides significant new resources for child care and housing.
Representative Mike Rogers said, “No service member should have to live in unsanitary conditions and no military family should have to rely on food stamps to feed their children, but many of our service members, especially junior recruits, This is what we are experiencing.” , R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “This bill goes a long way toward fixing that.”
The bill sets out key Pentagon policies that lawmakers will attempt to fund through a follow-up appropriations bill. Total spending tracks established numbers in 2023 agreement Then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with President Joe Biden to extend the nation’s borrowing authority and avoid federal default in exchange for restrictions on spending. Several senators wanted to increase defense spending by about $25 billion more than the agreement called for, but those efforts failed.
Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who is expected to serve as the next chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the overall spending level was a “tremendous loss to our national defense,” although he agreed with several provisions within it. Were. Bill.
“We need to make a generational investment to stop the axis of aggressors. “I will not stop working with my colleagues in Congress, the Trump Administration and others until we achieve this,” Wicker said.
House Republicans do not want to go above the McCarthy-Biden agreement for defense spending and are looking to go well below it for many non-defense programs.
They also focus on cultural issues. The bill prohibits funding for teaching Critical Race Theory in the military and prevents Tricare health plans from covering gender dysphoria treatment for children under the age of 18 if that treatment could result in sterilization.
Washington state Representative Adam Smith, the ranking Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee, said dealing with gender dysphoria in minors is a “very real problem.” He said available treatments, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, have proven effective in helping youth deal with suicidal thoughts, anxiety and depression.
“These treatments changed their lives and in many cases saved their lives,” Smith said. “And in this bill, we’ve decided that we will block children of service members from having access to that.”
Smith said the number of minors in service member families receiving transgender medical care is in the thousands. He could have supported a study that asked medical experts to determine whether such treatments were used too often, but the restrictions on health insurance coverage went too far. He said Speaker Mike Johnson’s office pushed for the ban and said the provision “tarnishes an excellent piece of legislation.”
Representative Chip Roy, R-Texas, called the ban a step in the right direction and said, “I think these questions need to be taken out of the defense debate, so we can get back to the business of defending the United States.” ” of America without dealing with the debates of social engineering.”
“These treatments changed their lives and in many cases saved their lives,” Smith said. “And in this bill, we’ve decided that we will block children of service members from having access to that.”
Smith said the number of minors in service member families receiving transgender medical care is in the thousands. He could have supported a study that asked medical experts to determine whether such treatments were used too often, but the restrictions on health insurance coverage went too far. He said Speaker Mike Johnson’s office pushed for the ban and said the provision “tarnishes an excellent piece of legislation.”
Representative Chip Roy, R-Texas, called the ban a step in the right direction and said, “I think these questions need to be taken out of the defense debate, so we can get back to the business of defending the United States.” ” of America without dealing with the debates of social engineering.”
On Israel, among other things, the bill includes expanding US joint military exercises with Israel and sanctions on the Pentagon for citing Hamas casualty data.
The defense policy bill is one of the final measures lawmakers must pass before making way for the new Congress in January.
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