CEC Condemns Passage of Anti-LGBTQI+ FY26 Military Construction & Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39) released the following statement after the House passed H.R. 3944, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026:

“Instead of prioritizing the needs of our nation’s veterans, Republicans in Congress used this appropriations bill to take another swing at transgender veterans,” said Rep. Mark Takano, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. “The Trump Administration already rescinded a policy that ensured transgender veterans could receive healthcare without facing discrimination and announced they were phasing out trans veterans’ treatments for gender dysphoria. Republicans are not only working to permanently codify this ban on medically necessary care for trans veterans, but also expand it with this bill. This is part of a broader effort to worsen the quality of care veterans receive.  The Congressional Equality Caucus strongly condemns this bill and remains committed to keeping its anti-LGBTQI+ provisions from becoming law.”


BACKGROUND
H.R. 3944 the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026, contains one explicitly anti-LGBTQI+ rider:

Sec. 256: Ban on Medically Necessary Care for Transgender Veterans
This section would ban funds appropriated by the bill from being “used for surgical procedures or hormone therapies for the purposes of gender affirming care,” completely banning the provision of gender-affirming hormone therapies to all transgender veterans and codifying the regulatory ban on VA providing gender-affirming surgeries for Fiscal Year 2026.