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Donald Trump; U.S. Capitol Building
After cancelling a meeting with congressional Democratic leaders, the president issued a list of reasons that mentioned gender-affirming care for minors, trans sports participation, and "transgender operations for everybody."
With a federal government shutdown looming within days, President Donald Trump tried to blame Democrats who support health care for transgender youth.
After canceling a meeting with congressional leaders, Trump took to Truth Social Tuesday with a list of reasons why he would not meet with Democrats. He listed three gripes with transgender rights, even though none have anything to do with the ongoing budget talks on Capitol Hill.
“They are threatening to shut down the Government of the United States unless they can have over $1 Trillion Dollars in new spending to continue free healthcare for Illegal Aliens (A monumental cost!), force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors, have dead people on the Medicaid roles, allow Illegal Alien Criminals to steal Billions of Dollars in American Taxpayer Benefits, try to force our Country to again open our Borders to Criminals and to the World, allow men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody,” Trump wrote.
Related: Donald Trump, who has been on a mission to strip transgender people of all dignity, complains ‘everything is transgender’
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats in the chamber have asked for more money for health care coverage in the budget. In a letter to the Congressional Budget Office, the minority caucus called for a permanent expansion of the premium tax credit structure and to roll back recent coverage restrictions in the health insurance marketplace.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has supported that push, saying any protection of health care “has to be ironclad and in legislation.”
But experts say the cost of that would be about $67 billion a year, far short of $1 trillion. Moreover, the letter mentions nothing about gender-affirming health care, for trans minors or anyone else. It also says nothing about transgender participation in sports, though Democrats have supported trans inclusivity historically.
And nobody, likely ever, has called for “transgender operations for everybody.”
Related: Donald Trump delivers presidential address filled with anti-LGBTQ+ lies and transphobic rhetoric
Trump’s accusations as he canceled the meeting even “puzzled” Republican allies in Congress, according to Politico.
“There have been some unforced errors, clearly,” one source told the outlet.
Schumer and Jeffries have pointed to Trump cancelling his meeting as a sign he isn’t serious about avoiding a federal government shutdown.
Of course, Republicans currently control the White House, Senate, and House, making it difficult to place blame on Democrats if a budget deal cannot be reached by the end of September.
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