Blocking The BAN

House votes to block funding for Trump’s trans military ban.

BY VICTOR MELAMED

The House voted last month to block the Pentagon’s new transgender troop policy, taking a swipe at President Donald Trump’s move to ban transgender service in the military, reports Politico.

During debate on a $1 trillion spending package, lawmakers voted 243-183 to adopt an amendment from Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) to block funding to implement the new policy, which Democrats slammed as discriminatory and arbitrary.

“The president and his administration wrongfully argue that it’s about military readiness and unit cohesion, but these arguments are the same ones that were made to keep the military racially segregated,” said Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.).

“Every service chief testified that transgender service would not disrupt unit cohesion or readiness,” he said.

Democrats have hammered the president for reversing the Obama-era policy allowing transgender individuals to serve openly in the military—a move Trump first announced in a July 2017 tweet.