Senator Baldwin Releases Statement on 2025 National Defense Legislation Following Vote

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) released the following statement after the Senate voted on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2025:

“Our country’s safety and support for our servicemembers and their families has always been – and should be – politics-free. And in this year's annual defense bill, we had a lot of bipartisan agreement. This bill has some great things for our servicemembers, my home state of Wisconsin, and measures that I have long pushed for, including a pay raise for troops, increasing access to contraception and mental health care, investments in Wisconsin’s military installations, and improving Buy America standards for our national defense programs that will support Wisconsin businesses and workers.

“But, despite all the common ground we found – some folks poisoned this bill and turned their backs on those in service with a partisan provision that will rip away the rights of our servicemembers to get the health care their kids need. I cannot support this bill, turn my back on these families, and take away parents’ right to get the healthcare they need for their kids.”

The 2025 NDAA includes language that bans health care for transgender kids and TRICARE patients under the age of 18. Earlier this week, Senator Baldwin led 24 of her colleagues in introducing an amendment to strip this language and protect servicemembers’ parental rights to access medically necessary health care for their transgender children. Baldwin’s amendment was not included in the final bill the Senate voted on today.

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