Two New Jersey Democrats joined all three Republicans in the state’s delegation in Congress voted to approve the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual defense funding bill Wednesday afternoon.
Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill supported the $895.2 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets Pentagon policy and guides funding for the year ahead, as did Tom Kean Jr., Chris Smith, and Jeff Van Drew.
The remaining five Democrats all voted against the NDAA, including LaMonica McIver, Robert Menendez Jr., Donald Norcross, Frank Pallone Jr., and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
“I am a veteran myself but support for the military should not be at the expense of the LGBTQ community (or any community). … If you are going to run a campaign that disregards the trans community bc pundits on TV say that Trump used the trans community as a successful tool against Harris then that speaks to your character Mikie/Josh, your lack of core beliefs/values,” said Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a Marina Corps veteran who is rivaling Gottheimer and Sherrill in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.
“Republican leadership’s weaponization of the NDAA by including this cruel attack on trans youth, and using our nation’s defense budget to target vulnerable communities is shameful,” said a social media post from Garden State Equality. “It’s equally shameful that 81 Democrats agreed that targeting trans youth wasn’t a dealbreaker.”
Fewer than half of the chamber’s Democrats voted in favor of what is typically a bipartisan piece of legislation, but Gottheimer and Sherrill frequently break ranks in support of GOP legislation.
The bill was advanced by a vote of 281 to 140 and includes a 14.5 percent pay raise for junior enlisted service members and spending on “quality of life” issues such as housing and child care.
Culture warriors in the Republican Party used the measure to deny medical care for the children of some military personnel, hoping to open widen divisions in the fractured country.
The final text of the bill drew objections from Democrats when Republican Speaker Mike Johnson at the 11th hour added a provision to prohibit the military’s health program from providing specialized treatments to the transgender children of U.S. service members.
Senior lawmakers from both parties said it was forced into the legislation after months of negotiation between the House and Senate armed services committees had arrived at the final 1,813-page document, a move that lawmakers said dampened its bipartisan support.
The Senate, which could take up the NDAA as early as Thursday, must also pass the bill before President Joe Biden can sign it into law.
Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, who have ramped up their opposition to transgender care for minors, have portrayed the treatments — which could include hormone therapy — as necessarily leading to sterilization, something medical professionals say does not happen in most cases.
The House on Wednesday passed an $895.2 billion defense policy bill after Democrats blasted the inclusion of a provision — pushed at the 11th hour by Speaker Mike Johnson — to prohibit the military’s health-care system from providing specialized treatments to the transgender children of U.S. service members.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed 281-140, with fewer than half of the chamber’s Democrats voting in favor of what is typically a bipartisan piece of legislation.
The NDAA sets Pentagon and U.S. national security policy for the year ahead.
Republicans and Democrats alike lauded the bill’s 14.5 percent pay increase for junior enlisted troops, along with its authorization for spending increases on military “quality of life” issues.
The bill also strengthens U.S. defenses against China, and expands investment in new military technologies and replenishing U.S. weapons stockpiles, they said.
Despite those advances, the spotlight landed on Johnson’s (R-Louisiana) culture war provision.
Senior lawmakers from both parties said it was forced into the legislation after months of negotiation between the House and Senate armed services committees had arrived at the final 1,813-page document, a move that lawmakers said dampened its bipartisan support.
The Senate, which could take up the NDAA as early as Thursday, must also pass the bill before President Joe Biden can sign it into law.
Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, who have ramped up their opposition to transgender care for minors, have portrayed the treatments — which could include hormone therapy — as necessarily leading to sterilization, something medical professionals say does not happen in most cases.
Johnson’s provision states that “medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization may not be provided to a child under the age of 18” — a change the speaker claimed would protect children from being subjected to “treatments that would ultimately sterilize.”
Democrats said the move amounted to a Republican campaign to target, scapegoat and vilify families struggling with gender dysphoria — a medical diagnosis for those whose gender identity is different from the sex they were assigned at birth.
The policy would deprive military parents of the ability to obtain life-changing care for their children that has proved “in many cases” to save lives, the House Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington said this week, referring to the prevalence of suicide among transgender youth.
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