Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026

Floor Speech

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Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Chair, I thank Representative Stansbury for yielding.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in opposition to this amendment, which would ban transgender women from participating in women's sports but also lead to challenges on all women's bodies, making the military and academies less safe for any women to enlist, no matter who they are.

Military personnel already undergo in-depth medical exams, and this amendment would allow for women and trans people to be subjected to increased and invasive targeting and harassment.

Athletic associations and the service academies are better prepared to understand the sports that they regulate and how to provide both respect for transgender people and fairness in sports. These associations and academies should be addressing this issue, not politicians, especially politicians who do not understand that trans people are not men who put on skirts.

Republicans have already banned trans people from the military and the service academies via executive action. This amendment is just another backdoor attempt to discourage transgender people from enlisting in the future while making the military less safe for all women and embedding discrimination into law. This amendment is a classic example of politicians trying to insert themselves where they don't belong. I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment.

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