Congressional Equality Caucus rips House Republicans’ bill abandoning transgender veterans’ health care
House Republicans are under fire for advancing a spending bill that threatens to permanently block gender-affirming care for transgender veterans, intensifying an already dangerous environment for LGBTQ+ service members and veterans under the Trump administration’s policies.
The House on Wednesday passed H.R. 3944, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026. The bill includes provisions to prohibit the VA from providing or funding care for gender dysphoria, echoing the Trump administration’s rollback of protections for trans veterans this March.
“Instead of prioritizing the needs of our nation’s veterans, Republicans in Congress used this appropriations bill to take another swing at transgender veterans,” gay California U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, said in a statement. “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.”
Takano’s rebuke comes as LGBTQ+ advocates continue sounding alarms over the chilling effect of the Trump administration’s March rescission of Directive 1341, a policy that had protected transgender, nonbinary, and intersex veterans from discrimination and guaranteed access to gender-affirming health care.
As The Advocate reported exclusively earlier, the rollback has fueled fear and quiet resistance inside VA hospitals nationwide. Physicians and staff, risking their jobs and safety, have described forming an underground network to continue caring for transgender veterans. “We’re building the underground as fast as we can,” one VA doctor told The Advocate, likening the current atmosphere to a “Lavender Scare 2.0.” Staff report surveillance, gag orders on terms like “transgender,” and colleagues disappearing from view under threat of retaliation.
The bill’s passage underscores how battles over LGBTQ+ health care have become a defining front in Trump’s second-term agenda — one that reverberates far beyond Washington and into the day-to-day lives of veterans who depend on the VA for lifesaving care.
As Pride flags wave nationwide, many trans veterans remain in limbo, facing not only legislative attacks but a hostile climate in the very institutions meant to support them.
“The Congressional Equality Caucus strongly condemns this bill and remains committed to keeping its anti-LGBTQI+ provisions from becoming law,” Takano said.