The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by the House of Representatives Thursday authorizes hundreds of millions in funding for “Minority Serving Institutions” and finances the freezing of sperm and eggs for some service members.
The nearly $884 billion bill includes over $102 million dollars in funding for “Minority Serving Institutions” and “Historically Black Colleges and Universities” (HBCUs), and establishes a development program that provides eligible service members with a $500 reimbursement for the cryopreservation of sperm and a $10,000 reimbursement for the cryopreservation of eggs.
Section 709 of the NDAA authorizes the creation of a three-year development program to fund the freezing of qualifying service members’ sperm and eggs: “The Secretary of Defense shall carry out a demonstration program to reimburse covered members for expenses incurred in the retrieval, testing, cryopreservation, shipping, and storage of gametes of such covered members in a private storage facility determined appropriate by the Secretary.”
The secretary of defense is also encouraged to “promote the demonstration program to covered members in the course of annual health examinations and pre-deployment screenings,” according to the bill’s text.
Qualification requirements for federal coverage of sperm and egg freezing include receiving hazardous duty pay, receiving approval from the secretary of defense and being geographically separated from a “spouse, domestic partner or dating partner for a period of not less than 180 days.”
While egg and sperm storage was covered, a provision to require health care cover in vitro fertilization for service members fell by the wayside, despite both the Senate and House NDAAs calling for the initiative.
The legislation also funds exchange programs and partnerships between HBCUs and Sub-Saharan Africans in order to “build the capacity and expertise of students, scholars and experts from Sub-Saharan Africa in key development sectors,” according to the bill’s text. It also finances research at various HBCUs and “Minority Serving Institutions.”
House Democrats attacked the fiscal year 2025 NDAA Sunday for moving to end coverage of sex change treatments for the children of service members.
“House Armed Services Democrats were successful in blocking many harmful provisions that attacked DEI [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] programs, the LGBTQ community, and women’s access to reproductive health care. It also included provisions that required bipartisan compromise. And had it remained as such, it would easily pass both chambers in a bipartisan vote,” Democratic Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. “However, the final text includes a provision prohibiting medical treatment for military dependents under the age of 18 who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria … This provision injected a level of partisanship not traditionally seen in defense bills. Speaker Johnson is pandering to the most extreme elements of his party to ensure that he retains his speakership.”
The Department of Defense currently provides service members and their beneficiaries with hormone therapy and psychological counseling for gender dysphoria.
The fiscal year 2025 NDAA also extended a hiring freeze for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and prohibited the use of Department of Defense funds to promote Critical Race Theory.
“Our military should be focused on lethality, not far-left woke nonsense,” Republican Alabama Rep. and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers told the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday. “The FY25 [fiscal year 2025] NDAA extends the DEI hiring freeze and prohibits funding for the politically biased Counter Extremism Working Group.”
The bill is heading to the Senate for consideration following its passage in the House.
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