Marjorie Taylor Greene is trying insert anti-trans amendments into the FDA’s funding bill

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has inserted anti-transgender amendments into a must-pass funding bill for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The amendments would deny federal funding for gender-affirming care and hospitals that provide it, according to journalist Erin Reed, but Democrats may vote for them anyway just to avoid a government shutdown.

Republicans have inserted similar amendments into the military budget, an aviation bill, a housing development bill, and a labor and education bill. These amendments could remove coverage for gender-affirming care from Affordable Care Act insurance plans and military medical services, affecting veterans and insurance holders even if they live in blue “sanctuary states” that have promised to protect access to such care, Reed wrote.

Related:

Gay Rep. Robert Garcia introduces legislation to make U.S. legal code “gender neutral”

It would replace masculine pronouns in U.S. law with gender-neutral language — but will Republicans support it?

Because these bills must be passed by September 30 in order to avoid a government shutdown, it remains to be seen whether Democrats will demand the removal of these anti-LGBTQ+ amendments or whether Democrats will vote for them just to keep the government functioning. Democrats have previously voted for Republican amendments that deny federal dollars for abortions, even though Democrats initially opposed such amendments, Reed noted.

Stay connected to your community

Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter.

Daily

Weekly

Good News

It’s possible that the White House may veto the anti-LGBTQ+ spending bills, especially since other Republican amendments in the bills seek to strike down funding for contraceptives, mental health and substance abuse services, and HIV prevention. These amendments may also cause some moderate Republicans to vote against the bills, something that would endanger their passage since the House’s Republicans’ slim majority can only afford to lose four Republican votes before a bill can’t pass.

For his part, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, a panel that oversees all government funding, told Politico, “Anything that’s partisan won’t be enacted. So [Republicans] can do whatever they want, but we are the only bipartisan game in town.” That is, the bills can’t pass the Democrat-controlled Senate without Democratic support either, which may force Republicans to compromise.

The Republicans will continue their anti-LGBTQ+ congressional activities on Thursday, as the Republican-led House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution and Limited Government will hold a hearing on gender-affirming care that will contain no doctors who actually provide such care.

The hearing, entitled “The Dangers and Due Process Violations of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Children,” says it will cover “how children are being coerced by adults in positions of authority into life-altering and medically questionable gender transition procedures without full understanding of the meaning or impact.”

Reed wrote of the hearing, “Interestingly enough, due process violations are exactly what has overturned laws banning gender-affirming care as unconstitutional.” Her comment refers to several federal court rulings that have blocked states’ gender-affirming care bans by saying that the bans needlessly violate trans patients’ and their parents’ rights to equal protection under the law.

The hearing’s four witnesses will include de-transitioned, right-wing media darling Chloe Cole (who recently spoke at a rally where attendees threatened to kill doctors), Jennifer Bauwens of the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group the Family Research Council, and May Mailman of the Independent Woman’s Law Center, a “dark money group” which considers trans women a “threat” to women’s sports.