OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027

Floor Speech

Date: July 21, 2026
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. CISNEROS. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

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Mr. CISNEROS. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. This amendment bans gender-affirming care for servicemembers and their dependents under TRICARE.

Recently, the Secretary of Defense just came out in support of gender-affirming care for our male servicemembers by providing the testosterone testing and treatment for those who need it.

The DOD Secretary and Republicans have already canceled health coverage for less than 1 percent of the population within the Department of Defense. The Secretary is currently kicking out transgender servicemembers, and now this cruel amendment is targeting dependents of servicemembers who are receiving hormone therapy and mental health counseling for gender dysphoria.

Dependents not receiving adequate healthcare is a factor pushing people to separate from the military. This culture war ideology amendment can result in a readiness gap issue.

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Mr. CISNEROS. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano).

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Mr. CISNEROS. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Jacobs).

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Mr. CISNEROS. Mr. Chair, gender dysphoria is real. It is a real diagnosis, and there is a treatment for it. Yet, our colleagues want to deny them.

Both in this debate and in the previous debate, my colleagues have said gender dysphoria is a mental health issue, and it needs to be treated. Yet, they want to deny individuals, the dependents--family members of our servicemembers and those servicemembers--the treatment required in order to help and support them.

I have a friend, because of this Nation's policies, who is being forced--is leaving this country so that her daughter can go get the treatment that she can get in another country.

This policy, this amendment, is cruel. It is meant to just basically root out a whole people that exist. You want to deny their existence. That is unfortunate, and it is cruel.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. CISNEROS. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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