Vasquez Calls on NDAA Conference Committee to Remove Discriminatory and Anti-Choice Amendments

September 20, 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, following the House vote to establish a Conference Committee on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) called on committee leadership to protect reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ service members.

“I urge the House Conference Committee to ensure service members can make their own health care decisions alongside their doctors - not the United States Congress. Our service members serve with honor and they deserve dignity and respect,” said Vasquez. “My top priority is and always will be to deliver for the second district while upholding New Mexico’s values. I’ve worked hard to advance legislation that brings good-paying jobs to our state and supports our service members. I call on the conference committee to ensure the wins I secured for New Mexico remain intact, while also protecting access to reproductive health care and supporting our LGBTQ+ service members.”

Following the passage of separate NDAA’s in both the House and Senate, both chambers must negotiate differences to produce a final bill. Vasquez will continue to work with House and Senate leadership to ensure the House Republicans’ egregious provisions are not included in the final defense bill.

Specifically, Vasquez called on Conferees to remove:

Prohibitions on the Secretary of Defense from paying for or reimbursing travel expenses relating to abortion services.
Prohibitions on providing gender transition services, gender reassignment surgeries, and other forms of gender-affirming care for service members and their dependents.
Prohibitions on displaying the Pride flag on Department of Defense property.

On Wednesday, September 20, Rep. Vasquez voted to direct conferees to remove the prohibition on the Department of Defense reimbursing expenses for service members traveling to receive reproductive health care services.

As a Member of the House Armed Services Committee, Vasquez helped draft the bipartisan NDAA for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24). Vasquez not only represents the military installations in his district, but as the only delegation member serving on an armed services committee, also represents the military interests of New Mexico at large.

Vasquez secured many provisions in the House version of the bipartisan FY24 NDAA, including the largest pay raise for service members in the last decade, addressing per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in drinking water around military installations, expanding military base’s child care programs, improving housing for service members and more.

Vasquez helped deliver investments in innovation, security, research and quality-of-life improvements for servicemen and women that will support New Mexican communities. The NDAA authorizes over $2.25 billion for New Mexican laboratories and military installations.

The full text of the letter is below:

Dear Chairman Reed, Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member Wicker, and Ranking Member Smith:

Thank you for your leadership on behalf of America’s men and women in uniform. I write to you to urge the conference committee to deliver a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that protects access to reproductive services and gender-affirming health care for America’s service members and supports our diverse military. Specifically, I urge the committee to remove the anti-choice and discriminatory provisions from the House-passed NDAA bill.

For 62 consecutive years, Congress has passed an NDAA in a bipartisan and bicameral fashion that has been signed into law by the President. Regardless of who occupied the White House or which party was in control of Congress, passing the NDAA was a testament to the essential work of supporting America’s national defense. The House bill includes the largest increase in pay and benefits for service members in a decade, protections for clean air and water on military installations, increases in childcare programs at installations such as Holloman Air Force Base, and support for key missions that provide quality jobs in rural states, including those in New Mexico.

Unfortunately, extreme anti-choice and discriminatory provisions were inserted in the bill at the eleventh hour that strip access to abortion services, eliminate gender-affirming care for transgender individuals, and prevent the Department of Defense (DOD) from supporting a diverse military that represents the makeup of our country. These amendments negatively impact the lives of our service members who need these services and detract from our national security.

Reproductive care is health care. With more states limiting access to abortion services, we must ensure our service members are able to access reproductive care regardless of where they are stationed. Our trans service members are equally deserving of quality care – amid constant attacks to the LGBTQ+ community’s basic rights, these discriminatory amendments must be removed. Restricting any of our service members’ access to essential health care is a disservice to them and their commitment to our country.

At a time when America’s armed forces are facing historic recruitment and retention challenges, we should be doing more, not less, to make the military a more welcoming and attractive career path for our nation’s youth.

I strongly urge you to strip out these provisions, and instead, protect access to reproductive services, access to gender-affirming care, and programs that support a strong and diverse military. We must ensure that America’s service members can seek the essential health care services that they’ve earned and deserve, and that America’s fighting force is reflective of, and values, the diversity that makes the United States the best country in the world. It is crucial to ensure these dangerous amendments are not included in the final version of this must-pass legislation.

I appreciate your work on this important legislation.

Sincerely,

Gabe Vasquez

Member of Congress

###