Republicans are celebrating a legislative victory as a provision authored by Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R) to prohibit federal funding for child gender-transition procedures was included in the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s budget reconciliation this week.
According to a senior legislative aide familiar with the unofficial Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score, Rep. Crenshaw’s Amendment will approximately save $1.4 billion over 10 years.
The measure, part of Rep. Crenshaw’s “Do No Harm in Medicaid Act,” would prevent Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) from covering procedures such as hormone therapies and irreversible surgeries for minors.
Rep. Crenshaw's Amendment does not address Medicaid coverage for adults, but GOP lawmakers see this as a foundation for future reforms.
In a post on X, he emphasized that there’s been bipartisan silence on his Amendment, noting that “no Democrats tried to strip it out.” “Optimistically, maybe the Left finally came around to common sense. More realistically? They were too afraid to touch it—realizing they’d gone too far,” he speculated.
There’s one part of this bill I’ll be proud of for the rest of my life: my provision ending taxpayer-funded irreversible “gender transitions” on kids. No more Medicaid, CHIP, or ACA funding for these barbaric and abusive rituals.
No one even tried to strip it out. Not one… pic.twitter.com/jLlESxGsJd
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) May 14, 2025
President Donald Trump (R) also praised the move, touting it as a fulfillment of his campaign pledge. “Science is now driving commonsense policymaking in The One, Big, Beautiful Bill. Promises made, promises kept,” said Kush Desai, President Trump’s spokesperson.
The Human Rights Campaign estimates the total cost of transgender medical interventions can exceed $75,000.
According to the American Principles Project, 66% of Americans oppose taxpayer funding for any gender-transition procedures, and 53% oppose funding “gender-affirming care,” per an Associated Press poll.
Though critics warn that Rep. Crenshaw's Amendment may encourage gender clinics to delay treatments until patients turn 18, he believes the bill will pass both chambers and be signed into law by the president.
“We’re putting kids first again,” he wrote on X, “and returning to a basic medical principle: do no harm.”
