The United States Senate’s committee report for the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which provides funding for the U.S. Military, was uploaded onto the Senate Armed Services Committee website Monday night. In it, two anti-transgender “riders” were included through an amendment process with the support of independent Senator Joe Manchin, who caucuses with Democrats, while a third was defeated; many more Democrats then voted to approve the full bill committee report. The riders targeting transgender service members are a key tenet of Project 2025, a series of proposals to radically change the United States Government put forward by the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation. The inclusion of these riders marks a major milestone; previously, the Senate was a roadblock for such provisions, as Democrats in the Senate preferred to stick to “clean” bills. Now, transgender care for military service members and their dependents are under more threat than ever before.

The document, uploaded Monday night, contains the committee report for the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, including key amendment votes on what would be included in the Senate’s version. In it, two policies appeared to pass the Democratic Senate Committee: a policy barring public funding from being used to “perform or facilitate sex change surgeries” in the Department of Defense. The second would bar Tricare, the military health insurance plan, from covering any gender-affirming care for minor dependents. Both of these amendments were passed with Senator Joe Manchin’s support.

You can see the committee........

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