House approves defense bill with limits on abortion, transgender procedures.

The House on Friday passed a sweeping annual defense bill that includes GOP-led amendments to restrict abortion coverage and transgender procedures, and eliminate diversity initiatives at the Pentagon.

Most Democrats voted against the measure, called the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023, as did four Republicans, with the bill clearing the lower chamber in a narrowly bipartisan 219–210 vote.

The measure was approved by the House Armed Services Committee in a nearly unanimous vote just weeks ago but drew controversy among liberal-minded lawmakers when Republicans added provisions restricting diversity and inclusion initiatives at the Department of Defense (DOD), and curbing services related to abortion and sex changes.

“We are continuing to block the Biden Administration’s ‘woke’ agenda,” said Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), at a press conference with her conservative colleagues ahead of Friday’s vote.

The final bill includes various routine provisions, such as allowing the purchase of items like destroyers and aircraft, while adjusting inventory requirements for the Air Force.

But it also includes a range of “culture war” issues, including repealing the DOD’s abortion travel policy, which reimburses expenses for service members who travel to obtain an abortion from a state where it’s restricted to a state where such procedures are allowed.

The Republican-led amendments also prohibit Pentagon health care programs from providing sex reassignment surgeries and gender hormone treatments for transgender individuals, and from providing gender transition procedures through a program designed for special-needs family members.

Republicans also introduced various changes to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at the Pentagon, including a measure that bars the DOD’s educational arm from buying books containing pornographic material or that “espouses radical gender ideology.” The changes also prohibit DOD schools from teaching that the United States or its founding are racist. remove

Passage of the bill in the House sets up a showdown in the Democrat-led Senate, with many pundits predicting an uphill battle.

‘Major Win’ versus ‘Reckless Legislative Joyride’

After the bill was passed on July 14, Freedom Caucus chairman Scott Perry (R-Ariz.) told a press conference that the amendments to the bill represent a “major win” for “the American people and for life.”

Democrats widely denounced the bill, accusing Republicans of hijacking what’s normally a bipartisan defense spending measure to push “culture war” issues.

In a joint leadership statement, Democrats said they were voting against the bill because House Republicans “turned what should be a meaningful investment in our men and women in uniform into an extreme and reckless legislative joyride.”

“Extreme MAGA Republicans have chosen to hijack the historically bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act to continue attacking reproductive freedom and jamming their right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people,” said the statement from Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), and Caucus Chairman