You might have expected this to be open-and-shut with the Republicans controlling the House. Maybe not.
In her usual ‘stoic’ and ‘contained’ comments, Nancy Pelosi has gone on record calling …
the “disgusting” attempt to restrict funds from being used to provide gender transition treatments is “unprecedented, unacceptable and undermines our national security.” Read More
It’s fortunate she isn’t given to hyperbole at all. Ever. She wasn’t done.
“Republicans should be ashamed: instead of protecting the men and women who risk their lives to defend our freedoms, they are fighting to rip away the health care of thousands of brave service members,” Pelosi said in a statement. “This cowardly Republican amendment targeting transgender men and women in uniform effectively bans these patriotic Americans from serving their country.” –Read More
Paying for an expensive (and controversial) life-altering surgery that many go on to regret, and doesn’t improve suicide rates is somehow critical to national security?
Oh, really? Undermines national security? That’s weird, however did we manage to defend ourselves before now? And when exactly did Ms. Open Borders and No Vetting begin to care about security?
What was she hyperventilating about, and what was the outcome?
She claimed that not providing free gender reassignment would somehow be ‘ripping away’ medical care.
Notice the only time they use the word patriotic is when they are creating a victim and setting up Republicans as the bad guy in their ‘battle-against-good-and-evil’ narrative?
Ok. Let’s look at the vile crime she was accusing Republicans trying to pull off:
Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a Republican from Missouri, had proposed the measure as an amendment to the defense authorization bill, arguing that taxpayers should not foot the bill for procedures such as gender reassignment surgery because that would divert the funds from more important priorities. “This is different from somebody going in and having a cold,” she said during debate on the floor.
…Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter lifted the ban on transgender people serving in the military last year and troops have been able to access “medically necessary” treatment since October of last year. In late June, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis delayed the enlistment of new transgender troops, originally planned to begin on July 1 of this year, giving the branches a further six months to assess whether that change will affect the “readiness or lethality” of the force. Transgender troops already serving in the military were not affected by the decision. — Read More
So it was really a question of allocating finite funds. Psychological care was still to be provided, but reassignment would not be.
Let’s remember there is now a website for the Wait Times VA has for medical care. That’s the language the poor shmucks living in countries with free government Rationed Health care would be familiar with. Not Americans.
But what do you expect from Government-run health care?
Paying for such surgeries as these (if they are as medically unbeneficial as many have claimed) only puts FURTHER strain on the already-strained VA.
In pushing the amendment, Hartzler also argued that the surgery is “very costly.” Estimates of the potential cost for transition-related care among military members vary wildly, ranging from about $2.4 million per year to several times that amount. That is partly because estimates of transgender troops in the military remain inexact. The Williams Institute estimates that there are roughly 8,800 thousand active duty military members who are transgender. Other research suggests the number could be as low as 1,500. In addition, not all transgender people need or want surgical treatment. –Read More
Related: No More Gender Reassignment Surgery at John Hopkins University. Are They Anti-Science?
But Pelosi was hyperventilating for nothing, after all. (Or maybe her moralizing bullied Republicans to cross the aisle?)
In the end, none of it mattered. The Republican House did not support her amendment.
It was a close call, but the House voted 209 to 214 to deny Rep. Vicky Hartzler’s amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which would have prevented Transgender service members from accessing transition-related healthcare with military money.
The Human Rights Campaign said in a press release: “Today’s vote sends a resounding message of support for our military families and transgender military personnel serving around the globe.” -Read More
For this vote, and many others, it looks like this book should be required reading in the GOP.
The Effeminization Of The American Male
by Doug Giles
Doug Giles, best-selling author of Raising Righteous And Rowdy Girls and Editor-In-Chief of the mega-blog, ClashDaily.com, has just penned a book he guarantees will kick hipster males into the rarefied air of masculinity. That is, if the man-child will put down his frappuccino; shut the hell up and listen and obey everything he instructs them to do in his timely and tornadic tome. Buy Now:The Effeminization Of The American Male
