US defense budget passed in Congress

(Washington) The US Senate passed the annual US defense budget on Wednesday despite some controversial provisions, including one that prohibits reimbursement for transitional care for transgender children of soldiers.

The text, already adopted in the House of Representatives, must now be promulgated by President Joe Biden.

Up 1% compared to last year, the budget of 884 billion dollars approved for the year 2025 notably includes an increase of 14.5% in the pay of the youngest soldiers, and of 4.5% for the rest of the Pentagon’s troops and employees.

Negotiations in Congress were complicated by the last-minute addition of a provision by the Republican camp that prohibits military health insurance from covering transitional care for transgender minors if it renders them “sterile.” .

“Tax dollars should not support procedures and treatments that could permanently harm young people and render them infertile,” Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson said in a statement Monday.

In the United States, the rights of transgender people – notably their participation in women’s sports competitions and access to transition care before adulthood – are a hot topic and spark acrimonious debates, an illustration of the fractures in American society on these issues. questions in recent years.

Democrats are calling for the protection of LGBT+ rights, while Republicans are rebelling against what they consider to be a diktat of right-thinking.

“Outright refusing care to people who need it – simply because of preconceptions against transgender people – is unacceptable,” said elected Democrat Adam Smith last week.

He warns that the provision in the budget text “could force thousands of soldiers to have to choose between continuing their service under the flags, or leaving to ensure that their child can obtain the necessary care.”

The Defense Department’s annual budget, usually a bipartisan topic in Congress, has become a controversial issue in recent years. Last year, Republicans added measures restricting abortion assistance for the military, or even banning flying the LGBT+ pride flag on military bases.