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ShadesDecadent -> McCain joins effort to challenge Trump’s transgender troops ban (9/16/2017 9:47:20 AM)
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McCain joins effort to challenge Trump’s transgender troops ban https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/mccain-joins-effort-to-challenge-trumps-transgender-troops-ban/2017/09/16/00ec0aca-9ae7-11e7-82e4-f1076f6d6152_story.html?utm_term=.267e3e46b0e0
The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee has joined an effort to challenge President Trump’s announced ban on transgender troops, a sign that open resistance to the order is growing.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a military hawk and one of the GOP’s most outspoken critics of Trump, said in a statement Friday that he was backing the measure because “we should welcome all those who are willing and able to serve our country.”
“Any member of the military who meets the medical and readiness standards should be allowed to serve — including those who are transgender,” he continued.
The announcement from McCain came as he joined Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, and committee members Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) in introducing a bill to thwart the president’s plan.
Gillibrand and Collins had hoped to attach an amendment to that National Defense Authorization Act pushing back against the transgender troops ban. But their efforts fell short when the Senate could not agree on a roster of amendments to vote on. So they redrafted the amendment as a separate piece of legislation.
McCain had previously been cagey about whether he would support the Gillibrand-Collins effort, noting that it might be premature, because the ban had not gone into effect. He did, however, promise to let senators offer any amendments they wanted.
I commend you John McCain: race and gender should never come into the equation.
But this, in a way, opens the door for – should women be on the front line or not? I myself believe they should be. One race the human race.
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