Transgender care also targeted as House due to vote on spending; former Fox host’s forum with Republican presidential hopefuls happening without ex-president

In a joint statement released Thursday evening, Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, whip Katherine Clark and caucus chair Pete Aguilar encouraged their members to vote against the NDAA, saying “extreme MAGA Republicans have chosen to hijack” legislation that is typically passed with bipartisan support.

Democrats are particularly incensed by amendments pushed by the GOP’s right wing that would prevent the Pentagon from reimbursing service members who travel for abortions, and bar a health care program from paying for gender-affirming care. Other Republican amendments that made it into a bill include bans on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and on defense department schools teaching that America is “a fundamentally racist country”.

Extreme MAGA Republicans have chosen to hijack the historically bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act to continue attacking reproductive freedom and jamming their right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people.

House Republicans have turned what should be a meaningful investment in our men and women in uniform into an extreme and reckless legislative joyride. The bill undermines a woman’s freedom to seek abortion care, targets the rights of LGBTQ+ servicemembers and bans books that should otherwise be available to military families.

House Democrats will always put people over politics to protect our national security. We will vote no on final passage of this bill.

Tucker Carlson, eyeing a comeback after being fired from Fox News, will at 10am host a forum together with Blaze Media feature Republican presidential candidates Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy and Asa Hutchinson.

Biden is taking it easy today after a long week visiting Nato allies in Europe, with no public events or press briefing scheduled.

The state of American democracy: not good, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. A troubling one in 10 people surveyed give it high marks, with the rest saying America’s system of government isn’t doing a good job representing their interests.