Press Releases

Today, the Department of Defense changed regulations allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military. Chairman Thornberry made the following remarks regarding that announcement:

"This is the latest example of the Pentagon and the President prioritizing politics over policy. Our military readiness—and hence, our national security—is dependent on our troops being medically ready and deployable. The Administration seems unwilling or unable to assure the Congress and the American people that transgender individuals will meet these individual readiness requirements at a time when our Armed Forces are deployed around the world."

"Over the next few weeks, we are going to continue to push for actual answers to the readiness questions we’ve been asking for nearly a year to which we have still not received a response. We will also be looking at legislative options to address the readiness issues associated with this new policy."