The GOP-controlled House handed a bill that may block Medicaid funds from getting used for gender identification care to minors.
The measure, sponsored by Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw, handed by a vote of 215 to 201 with 4 Democrats voting in favor.
It’s the second bill handed by the House in as many days geared toward proscribing entry to transgender care for minors. It is unclear if both bill might be taken up by the GOP-led Senate and neither is probably going to garner enough help from Democrats to achieve that chamber. But the transfer by House Republicans to advance the measures stands as an announcement of the celebration’s priorities forward of a crucial midterm election 12 months.
On Wednesday, the House handed a bill that may criminalize transgender care for minors. Under the bill, which was sponsored by Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, docs who present gender identification care to minors may face up to 10 years in jail.
Advocacy teams like the ACLU have strongly criticized the measures saying that if they’re signed into legislation, it may have a devastating affect on transgender youth.
Passage of the bill additionally comes after the Department of Health and Human Services introduced Thursday morning that it will take extra measures to end transgender care for minors.
“The American people deserve accountability in how their taxpayer dollars are spent,” Crenshaw said in a statement after introducing the bill in January. “Using Medicaid funds for unproven and irreversible procedures on minors is not only medically irresponsible but also a betrayal of public trust.”
Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride on Wednesday criticized congressional Republicans as being “obsessed with trans people” forward of the votes.
“I actually think they think more about trans people than trans people think about trans people,” mentioned McBride, who’s the first out transgender member of Congress.
McBride mentioned that Republicans had been “trying to politicize a misunderstood community and misunderstood care.”
“No one’s healthcare should be politicized,” she mentioned