Senate passes defense bill that will raise troop pay, end transgender dependents’ coverage

The annual defense authorization bill usually gains strong bipartisan support and has not failed to pass in nearly six decades, but the Pentagon policy legislation has recently become a battleground for cultural issues. The Senate passed a defense bill Wednesday that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members and boost overall military spending to $895 billion while stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children of military members. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in a floor speech this week that without the top-line increase “major bill provisions like a pay raise for enlisted service members will come at the expense of investments in the critical weapons systems and munitions that deter conflict and keep them safe.” The legislation provides for a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others. The bill also still prohibits funding for teaching critical race theory in the military and prohibits TRICARE health plans from covering gender dysphoria treatment for children under 18 if that treatment could result in “sterilization.” For some Democrats, the ban on treatments for transgender children — care they said could be life-saving — was a red line.