A House Democrat is introducing a bill this week to block Donald Trump from banning transgender people from serving in the military.

In his first term, Trump banned trans people from serving in the military, a move that was challenged in the federal court system in multiple lawsuits. President Joe Biden’s administration repealed the ban when he took office.

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The NDAA would remove gender-affirming care coverage for servicemembers’ trans children.

But Trump has promised to reinstate the trans military ban on his first day in office.

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“With a stroke of my pen on day one, we are going to stop the transgender lunacy,” he said at a Turning Point USA event in December. “I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools. And we will keep men out of women’s sports.”

The ban is expected to cost the Department of Defense over $18 billion as it would force 15,000 service members out of the military, many of whom have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in training and have years of experience.

Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), who represents a district that includes parts of San Diego, said that she will introduce a bill to stop the ban, HuffPost reports.

“The key is that Republicans are currently focusing on culture wars instead of actually focusing on our national security,” she said. “Because to me it makes no sense in a recruitment- and retention-challenging environment to be letting almost 15,000 service members go. We’ve invested a lot of time and money in training.”

With Republicans in control of the House, it’s unlikely that her bill will come up for a vote at all, something she acknowledged. But she said that she was hopeful that some House Republicans would support her bill because they have said that they care about the military’s ability to meet recruitment goals.

“It’s doubtful,” she said. “I know some of my Republican colleagues do really understand the sort of recruitment, retention and readiness challenges that we’re facing. So I’m hopeful, but I think they’re all kind of falling in line at the moment.”

While Republicans have found electoral success while advocating for bans on gender-affirming care and trans girls in school sports, the trans military ban appears to be less popular with voters. A 2021 Gallup Poll found that 66% of Americans support allowing out trans people to serve in the military.

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