220 House Republicans vote to eliminate reproductive health care for service members

Two hundred and twenty House Republicans voted Thursday night to pass an amendment to the defense authorization bill that would stop the U.S. military from paying for service members to access reproductive health care or reimbursing expenses connected with accessing such care. The amendment was adopted by a 221-213 vote, with Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas voting yes and two Republicans voting no.

The vote was on one of dozens of proposed amendments to the annual National Defense Authorization Act, must-pass legislation that sets the funding levels and operational policies for the Department of Defense and other agencies involved in national defense. After the House Armed Services Committee approved a proposed bipartisan bill, far-right Republicans demanded votes on dozens of amendments to make it more socially conservative.

The amendment, identical to a bill introduced in March by Republican Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, was offered by Jackson and 70 of his GOP colleagues. Its language would repeal an October 2022 Pentagon memorandum that provides service members leave and travel allowances to access “non-covered reproductive health care” such as abortion care and would prohibit any federal funds being used to “pay for or reimburse any fees or expenses, including travel expenses, relating to a health-care professional gaining a license in a State if the purpose of gaining such license is to provide abortion services.”

In the past, Republicans have objected to addressing social issues in the defense authorization bill. “Congress should pass clean legislation — without the liberal social agenda items Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid have insisted on attaching in the run-up to the election,” California Rep. Buck McKeon, the top Republican on the Armed Services panel at the time, demanded in 2010.

“The National Defense Authorization Act — especially in wartime — should be focused on one core equity: caring and providing for the men and women in uniform and their families.”

But in the face of threats by members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus to block the entire package, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other Republican leaders agreed to allow votes on the reproductive care ban and other unrelated proposals.

Two hundred and twenty-one Republicans and Cuellar voted for an amendment proposed by Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale to prohibit Defense Department health facilities and the health insurance program that covers service members and their families from paying for or providing “sex reassignment surgeries and gender hormone treatments for transgender individuals.” It was approved on a 222-211 vote.

Two hundred and twenty Republicans and two Democrats backed an amendment offered by Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert to prevent Defense Department-run schools “from purchasing and having pornographic and radical gender ideology books in their libraries,” a ban similar to the one that has kept LGBTQ+-inclusive books out of school libraries in Florida. It passed 222-209.

Two hundred and eighteen GOP representatives and nine Democrats voted for an amendment authored by Texas Rep. Chip Roy to block military-run schools from teaching about systemic racism and unconscious bias. It passed by a 227-201 vote, with Democrat Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania voting present.

One hundred and seventy-seven House Republicans supported a proposal by Virginia Rep. Bob Good to overrule the military’s Naming Commission and block the renaming of military facilities currently named for Confederate traitors. It failed by a vote of 177-253.

The amended bill is scheduled to receive a vote on Friday morning, but Republicans will likely have to pass it without much bipartisan support.

“House Democrats will always put people over politics to protect our national security,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark, and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said in a joint statement on Thursday night. “We will vote no on final passage of this bill.”

“Unfortunately, Speaker McCarthy caved to the demands of the most extreme contingent of his conference and allowed this historically bipartisan bill to be turned into a harmful hyper-partisan piece of legislation,” Virginia Rep. Jennifer McClellan said in a press statement, “Instead of focusing on the needs of our servicemembers and their families, extreme MAGA Republicans have turned the NDAA into yet another vehicle to wage their culture wars.”

McCarthy and his team have struggled to operate in the House with a narrow five-seat majority.

In June, House Republican leaders were forced to cancel votes on four conservative messaging bills, politically charged proposals with no chance of passing the Democratic-led Senate, after several right-wing members of their caucus joined with the Democratic minority to kill the rules for debate. The renegades said this was in retaliation for the way leadership had pushed them to approve a bipartisan debt ceiling compromise.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.