GOP Sen. Roger Marshall introduces measure to block Biden admin from redefining sex discrimination

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) introduced a measure Friday that aims to prevent the Biden administration from enforcing a new rule that expands the definition of “sex” in federal health care nondiscrimination law to include “gender identity.”

Opponents of the rule, which was proposed by the Department of Heal❀th and Human Services and is set to go into effect on July 5, argue that it threatens to override state laws banning gender transition surgeries and could force faith-based health care providers to perform the procedure, as well as abortions🔯. 

Conservatives also fear the rule amending the Affordable Care Act will mandate that transgender surgeries be covered by all health insurance providers, including taxpayer-funde🦋d programs such as Med𝓀icaid and Medicare.

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Marshall’s joi♒nt resolution, backed by six other Senate Republicans, expresses disapproval of the HHS rule under the Congressꩲional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn regulations with a bare majority vote in each chamber.

“Time is of the essence; we will fight like hell to overturn this radical ruling by Joe Biden’s HHS,” Marshall told The Post. 

“This is a dangerous abuse of power,” the Kansas Republican added. “Our founding fathers would be rolling over in their graves if they knew that the president of the United States was trying to fund sex-change surgeries at the taxpayer’s expense.”

Ma🌠rshall, who was ♒a practicing obstetrician before entering politics, argued that “gender is not fluid, and sex is not negotiable.”

“While all voice of reason seems to be lost at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, we will continue to sound the alarm,” he said. “The HHS should be worried about Americans’ safety, health and wellbeing and stop doing the radical left’s bidding by promoting child mutilation surgeries.” 

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The new regulation restores Obama-era provisions♏ covering transgender individuals💎 that the Trump administration rolled back in 2020.

Since the Obama administration, courts have issued conflicting rulings related to the provisions in Sectio🍸n 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. 

The that covered entities must not “[d]eny or limit health services, including those that have been typically or exclusively provided to, or associated with, individuals of one sex, to an individual based upon the individual’s sex assigned at birth, gender identity, or gender otherwise recorded” or “[d]eny or limit health services sought for purpose of gender transition or other gender-affirming care that the covered entity would provide to an individual for other purposes if the denial or limitation is based on an individual’s sex assigned at birth, gender identity, or gender otherwise recorded.”

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Some conservatives have interpreted this to mean that physicians who, for example, offer hormones to ad🔴ult women for a variety of ailments or🅺 symptoms will be legally required to provide them to transgender youths. 

Marsh🅷all’s effort to use the Congressi🥂onal Review Act to strike down the regulation is unlikely to succeed. 

CRAs are , and even if the House of Representatives — with its threadbare GOP majority — and the Democrat-controlled Senate approve Marshall’s joint resolution, President Biden will not sign it into law. 

“I am happy to fight this fight,” Marshall said of his long-shot effort. “Nothing is more importan𝔍t than protecting our children.”&nb൩sp;