19 attorneys general urge Congress to block Trump's transgender troop ban
Source: The Hill
Nineteen state attorneys general, including the one for Washington, D.C., are calling on Congress to block President Trump from implementing a ban on transgender troops.
Specifically, they want the leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services committees to include language in the annual defense policy bill to prohibit discrimination against transgender troops and affirm that transgender Americans cannot be banned from serving.
The policy announced by President Trump's tweet undermines the national security goal of giving every able American who wants to serve in the military the opportunity to serve, creates untold bureaucratic and legal cost and complexities in implementation, and would put in place a policy that violates fundamental constitutional and American values, they wrote in a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the committees dated Thursday.
The House has already passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). But the Senate has yet to take up its version, and an amendment could be added on the floor to address the transgender issue.
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Read more: http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/344337-19-attorneys-general-urge-congress-to-block-trumps-transgender-troop-ban