U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, appeared alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr to announce a new Trump administration policy aimed at restricting gender transition procedures for minors. The announcement was made during an event in Washington.
The new policy seeks to prevent children from undergoing gender transition procedures that include surgeries described as mutilation and castration. Dr. Cassidy stated, “American tax dollars should never fund dangerous child sex-change operations and irreversible procedures. As Chairman of the HELP Committee, I am proud to work alongside the Trump administration to protect children.”
Earlier in the year, Senator Cassidy introduced the No Subsidies for Gender Transition Procedures Act. This legislation is designed to prohibit federal funding for gender transition procedures through Medicaid, Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Affordable Care Act. Cassidy has also initiated investigations into medical organizations, provider groups, and insurers that promote gender transition procedures for minors without what he describes as reliable scientific data.
As chair of the HELP Committee in the 119th Congress (source), Cassidy is urging compliance with President Trump’s executive order intended to prevent chemical and surgical castration of children.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee is responsible for developing federal policy on public health issues such as this one (source). The committee also provides oversight of agencies like the FDA and NIH (source) and influences regulations affecting health care across the United States (source).
For more information or updates from HELP Republicans, visit their website or Twitter at @GOPHELP.
