EXCLUSIVE: Senate GOP Proposal Would End Federal Funding For ‘Genital Mutilation’ Procedures

Texas Senator John Cornyn introduced a bill Tuesday that would end all federal funding for transgender procedures on both children and adults.

The Stop Funding Genital Mutilation Act would ensure that no dollars from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) pay for transgender medical procedures, like removing the breasts of girls who identify as boys, or the administration of cross-sex hormones.

“Texas taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for dangerous and often debilitating ‘gender transition’ procedures that are driven by radical ideology masquerading as health care,” Cornyn told The Daily Wire.

The text of the proposal, also sponsored by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), follows the same lines as the “one, big, beautiful” bill passed by the House, which also ends all funding for transgender procedures. 

Cornyn said that he would fight to ensure that the Senate’s version of the reconciliation spending bill would cut funding for transgender procedures like the House. His introduction of the bill comes as he faces a contentious primary challenge from Attorney General Ken Paxton, also a firm opponent of transgender procedures. 

President Donald Trump made opposing transgender ideology a key plank of his 2024 platform, a position that proved popular with both Republicans and independents. In January, he signed an executive order slashing federal funding for entities that perform transgender procedures on minors. 

A recent review by the Department of Health and Human Services found that the arguments for transgender procedures on minors were not backed by scientific evidence. 

“The ‘gender-affirming’ model of care includes irreversible endocrine and surgical interventions on minors with no physical pathology,” the review summary said. “These interventions carry risk of significant harms including infertility/sterility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, adverse cognitive impacts, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, surgical complications, and regret.”

Over two dozen states, including Texas and Oklahoma, have enacted laws protecting kids from transgender procedures.

“Before they can vote, drive, or get a tattoo, some children are pushed into irreversible gender-transition procedures with no proven long-term health benefit,” Lankford said. “These treatments can cause lasting harm, and taxpayers should not be forced to fund them.”

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) introduced a similar bill last month that would also defund transgender procedures by amending the IRS code to no longer consider the life-altering procedures as health care.