House Dems hand GOP a win on trans sports as party unity cracks

Five House Democrats broke away from their party leaders on Tuesday night to vote with Republicans on a measure cracking down on transgender participation in school sports.

The House voted on a slew of amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Tuesday, an annual bill setting military and national security policy each fiscal year.

Among those that prevailed was an amendment led by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., to block students born male from participating on girls' athletic teams at schools run by the Department of War (DOW).

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The vast majority of Democrats — 203 of them — voted to allow transgender participation, save for Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Shomari Figures, D-Ala., Don Davis, D-N.C., Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, and Terri Sewell, D-Ala.

The amendment was adopted in an overall 221 to 203 vote, with all Republicans voting in favor.

DOW-run schools serve the dependents of active duty military personnel and civilian department employees throughout the world and parts of the United States.

All four senior leaders in the House Democratic Caucus, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., voted against the amendment.

Tuesday night's vote shows how the issue of transgender participation in school sports — and topics surrounding transgender youth overall — is still fueling division within the Democratic Party.

"Men are not women. Men will never become women. Yet male athletes are stealing medals, invading locker rooms and putting girls in the hospital, all in the name of gender ideology. Our NDAA amendment would end this nonsense," Mace said of her amendment on Tuesday.

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"It would ban biological males from competing against biological women in Department of Defense Education Activity schools. Our warfighters' daughters deserve better than this."

Although it passed the House, the amendment and the NDAA overall are far from becoming law. Both chambers of Congress must pass identical versions of the sweeping bill before it gets to President Donald Trump's desk.