GOP senators break with Trump over transgender troop ban

The Hill ^ | 07/26/2017 | John Bowden

[JayGalt]

Once the armed services is on the hook to pay, people who want the surgery will enlist to get it for free if they can meet the enlistment standards.

[areukiddingme1]

In separate statements, GOP Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Richard Shelby (Ala.), and Orrin Hatch (Utah) all criticized Trump for his decision that Obama-era rules allowing transgender troops to serve would be reversed — Obama-era rules, you mean an executive order, which the current President is not bound by.

So to quote General Kelly “If lawmakers do not like the laws they’ve passed and we are charged to enforce — then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws. Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines,” Mr. Kelly said in a speech Tuesday at George Washington University, where he laid out priorities for the sprawling department he took over three months ago.

Granted his comments were about immigration, but it absolutely can be used in this situation as well — Why don’t these a$$holes sponsor legislation and get it through the House and the Senate so the President can sign it...Quit being cowards and sitting on the sideline, put your money where your mouth is or shut up....

[ZULU]

Screw them all. Damn RINOs.

Joni Ernst has proven to be a total disappointment.

Maybe she should stick to castrating hogs.

[ZULU]

Screw them all. Damn RINOs.

Joni Ernst has proven to be a total disappointment.

Maybe she should stick to castrating hogs.

[lodi90]

“trans” = people who want to have sex with the same sex. No more, no less.

[Ohioan]

It is still too bad that they do not have the common sense to know when to shut up!

[Lurkinanloomin]

I’m not, Shelby has been useless for years.

[Mouton]

All at best REMFs. The CiC makes these calls, period end of story.

[JayGalt]

Isn’t POTUS the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Services? If he decides the military has decided.

[Bob434]

[[they’re pocketing big money from the gay gestapo.]]

That could change IF Christian and conservative groups began Withholding money from them- if they- these ‘republican’ senators, lost more money than they gained from the gaystapo groups- their tune would change in a heartbeat!

[JustSurrounded]

I was under the impression (wrongly?) that the military didn't accept or retain people who needed daily medication (insulin, for example). How can you be part of a battle-ready, deployable-anywhere force if you require access to daily hormone therapy?

[kabar]

Serving in the US military requires a certain level of physical fitness and freedom from any disability “that may require excessive time lost from duty for necessary treatment.” When civilians apply to join the military, therefore, they are required to pass a medical exam and to disclose information about their medical history. While not all medical conditions disqualify a person from joining the military, many do, and any type of diabetes generally does.

Developing diabetes while already serving in the military, however, is not automatic grounds for separation (retirement) from the military. Several hundred service members (out of more than 1.4 million currently serving) are diagnosed with diabetes each year. Between 1997 and 2007, fewer than 6% of diabetes diagnoses were Type 1 diabetes, 80% were Type 2 diabetes, and the remaining 14% were not consistently reported as either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. Because active service members have mandatory medical examinations and free access to health care, it is thought that there are few undiagnosed cases of diabetes among military personnel. Service members who develop diabetes and cannot maintain an HbA1c level below 7% without medication are referred to a medical evaluation board, which assesses their medical fitness and makes recommendations about follow-up care.

[Bob434]

[[I have no problem with some one who claims they are transgendered serving.]]

Men taking female hormones are weaker than men with normal testosterone levels- We are waking our military by allowing weaker people, women and transgender men and women, to serve in the military- when lives are on the line- we need all the strength we can muster in our military- I wouldn’t want to have some 90 lb weakling being responsible for carrying me to safety if I were wounded- It’s putting military men at risk allowing weaker people to serve on the battlefield- President Trump’s tweets this morning pretty much said the same thing- The military is for tough people- not men with emotional problems and physical problems

[JayGalt]

Once they are in they lobby for special accommodations, special assignments...since they are the flavor of the month.

[RatRipper]

Shelby is a former Democrat. He is from my state and I don’t vote for him.

[Dogbert41]

WHO”S THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF?

Trump!

[theoilpainter]

Thanks. This leaves open the questions of whether the Congress can modify this, and, regardless, whether the judicial branch can review, which I suspect it can. The fact that there was no challenge to Truman’s actions doesn’t mean there cannot be one.

Would Trump’s policy survive a 14th Amendment challenge? It would probably depend upon the reasons for it. Could the POTUS remove all minorities from the military? I doubt it.

Pardon my ignorance here, but how does “trans” differ from “gay”? I assume gays are not affected by this.

[Cen-Tejas]

Ernst, Shelby and Hatch. Hmmmm.............on this issue, I’d say them being against this transgender ban certifies them as Democrats.

[Salvavida]

Good. Primary them out. Don’t let them forget this issue. The normal sane service members NEVER wanted this circus thrust upon them.

[\/\/ayne]

OK, make a law, try to pass it and see if you can get elected again.