Four House Democrats joined Republicans to pass a bill Thursday that would end federal Medicaid funding for gender reassignment surgeries and medications for minors.
Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw sponsored the event. check“Do No Harm in the Care Act,” with Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. The legislation, if passed by the Senate, would amend the Social Security Act to end federal Medicaid payments to states for “certain gender-specific procedures” — including surgical bans and pharmaceutical restrictions — performed on individuals under age 18.
Thursday's bill passed the House 215-201, with four Democrats joining a single GOP: Texas Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry. CuellarNorth Carolina Rep. Don Davis and Washington Rep. Marie Glusenkamp Perez.
House past a similar bill a day earlier, also sponsored by Greene, that addressed gender reassignment procedures for children.
Thursday's legislation received slightly broader support than Wednesday's measure, with five lawmakers voting against Wednesday's bill but in favor of the one that specifically addresses Medicaid dollars: Gluesenkamp Perez, as well as Republican Representatives Gabe Evans of Colorado, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mike Kennedy of Utah and Mike Lawler of New York. (CONNECTED: Four Republicans vote against ban on gender reassignment
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 26: Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) listens to a press conference on Capitol Hill on June 26, 2024 in Washington, DC. House Republicans are seeking to hold Attorney General Derrick Garland in contempt of Congress after he advised President Biden to exercise executive privilege over audio and video recordings of his interviews with special counsel Robert Hur. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Crenshaw told the House on Thursday that his bill would end federal funding for surgeries and puberty blockers and other treatments that he said are ineffective in reducing suicide rates among minors suffering from “gender dysphoria.”
“Today’s greatest sin in medicine is perhaps one of the worst we have seen in human history: a sick and twisted ideology, coupled with social media fueling social contagion, has effectively normalized the absolute lie that biological sex does not matter and can even be changed,” Crenshaw said. “Irreversible treatment of children who require therapy is wrong…your constituents know that children are too young to understand the effects of permanent physiological changes…you can be sure that they certainly do not want their tax dollars to pay for this.”
New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone called child gender reassignment a “medically necessary medical treatment” while opposing Crenshaw and Greene's bill in the House on Thursday.
“[The bill] represents an extreme attack on medically necessary care for children. The bill prohibits Medicaid funding for gender-affirming care for minors and deprives states of even more Medicaid funding if they choose to cover this medically necessary care with their own state dollars,” Pallone said. (CONNECTED: Bishops ban gender reassignment in US Catholic hospitals
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 11: Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) speaks during the “Protect Health Care, Lower Costs” press conference on Capitol Hill on September 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for the Economic Security Project)
The issue of changing the gender of children was a major focus of President Donald Trump's attention during his second term. On January 28, Trump signed Executive Order entitled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Harm.” On Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed new provisions on this issue in response to the January order.
“Under my leadership and in response to President Trump’s call to action, the federal government will do everything in its power to stop the unsafe, irreversible actions that are putting our children at risk,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a news release Thursday. “This administration will protect America's most vulnerable. Our children deserve better—and we are delivering on that promise.”
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