More than 200 House Democrats voted against banning Medicaid dollars from funding transgender treatments for minors.
The Do No Harm in Medicaid Act was introduced by Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and received support from all House Republicans when it was put to a vote Thursday afternoon.
The measure passed 215-201, with all opposition coming from Democrats. All Republicans who voted approved the bill.
Four Democratic representatives voted for the bill — Henry Cuellar, D-Texas; Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas; Don Davis, D-N.C.; and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.
Transgender issues, particularly related to minors, have been one of the topics driving a wedge between moderate and progressive Democrats.
The bill would block federal reimbursement for specific gender surgeries performed on minors and treatments such as hormone therapies, according to the legislative text.
The legislation could also block Medicaid funding to states that do allow federal funds to be used for transgender medical treatments for minors.
But the bill provides exceptions for puberty blockers prescribed during precocious puberty and gender-related surgeries performed to fight injury, illness and the potential death of a child, among others.
House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said the legislation would save $445 million over a decade for the Medicaid program during debate on the bill Thursday.
Guthrie said it did not prevent children from getting medically necessary treatment, adding it ‘simply prohibits the use of Medicaid funding on specified procedures that are medically unnecessary.’
‘I’m not sure my colleagues even believe what they’re saying,’ Crenshaw said during his turn to speak. ‘Today’s great sin in medicine is perhaps one of the worst that we’ve seen in human history — a sick, twisted ideology parroted by social media, fueling social confusion.’
But Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., called it an ‘extreme attack on medically necessary treatment for children.’
‘This is Congress seeking to ban healthcare for the most vulnerable among us,’ Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., said. ‘The healthcare that trans youth receive is a decision that they should be able to make in consultation with their parents, therapists and doctors, not politicians.
‘The hypocrisy of this legislation is staggering,’ he added, arguing the medical procedures it bans ‘allows for the same exact care for non-transgender youth.’