GOP hopes to save $1.4 billion by defunding child transitions
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Republicans could net approximately $1.4 billion in savings through cutting Medicaid coverage for child gender transitions, a senior legislative aide familiar with the unofficial figure told The Daily Signal.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s markup Tuesday of budget reconciliation includes a provision from Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, that would block federal dollars from funding child sex-change procedures, such as hormone-replacement regimens and irreversible transition surgeries.
The provision produces around $1.4 billion in savings over 10 years, according to the unofficial Congressional Budget Office score shared with The Daily Signal by a senior legislative aide.
President Donald Trump celebrates the Republican victory.
“President Trump campaigned on restoring the Gold Standard of Science in American health care. He followed through on that pledge by ordering [the Department of Health and Human Services] to conduct a comprehensive, evidence-based review of gender transition procedures for children that revealed serious risks from these interventions,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said. “That science is now driving commonsense policymaking in the one, big, beautiful bill. Promises made, promises kept.”
Last month’s budget resolution tasked the Energy and Commerce Committee with slashing $880 billion in spending.
If this version of the budget bill is passed by the House and Senate, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, and Children’s Health Insurance Program funding wouldn’t be allowed to cover child gender transitions.
While the markup doesn’t touch Medicaid funding for adult gender-transition procedures, conservatives see the provision as a springboard for future legislation, a senior legislative aide said. Republicans plan to build on the victory of cutting taxpayer funding for child gender transitions.
Critics of the Energy and Commerce provision of the markup worry that young 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds will still be able to obtain taxpayer-funded transitions. Gender clinics might advise young people on Medicaid to just wait until their 18th birthday to begin hormones so that they can receive them on the taxpayers’ dime, critics say.
The total cost of transgender interventions can cost upward of $75,000, according to the Human Rights Campaign, one of the largest proponents of the radical gender ideology.
Cutting public funding for all transgender medical interventions is widely popular with Americans.
The American Principles Project found that 66% of Americans oppose taxpayer funding for all gender-transition procedures, and even The Associated Press recently found that 53% of Americans opposed taxpayer funding for “gender-affirming care,” including puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
Crenshaw said on X that his provision, the Do No Harm in Medicaid Act, is something he will be proud of for the rest of his life. He noted that no Democrats tried to strip it out.
“Optimistically, maybe the Left finally came around to common sense,” Crenshaw said. “More realistically? They were too afraid to touch it—realizing they’d gone too far. Whatever the reason, we’re putting kids first again—and returning to a basic medical principle: Do no harm.”
Crenshaw is confident his provision will pass the House and Senate.
“I think it will pass the House. I think it will pass the Senate. I think President Trump will sign it into law. Keep in mind, President Trump has already done an executive action on this, but it needs to be codified for it to really take effect. This is a huge win,” he said in a video on X. “You got to protect these kids, the science is clear at this point.”
The Congressional Budget Office did not immediately respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]