Story highlights The amendment failed in a 209-214 vote, with 24 Republicans voting against it

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has delayed a decision on allowing transgender recruits to join the military

(CNN) The House on Thursday defeated a proposal that would have prevented the Pentagon from funding gender reassignment surgeries for service members.

The amendment failed in a 209-214 vote, with 24 Republicans voting against it.

The provision from Rep. Vicky Hartzler was an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to block the military from paying for gender reassignment surgery or hormone therapy for both service members and their families.

In 2016, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter ended the ban on transgender people being able to serve openly in the military.

Carter put in place a process to occur in stages, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was facing a July 1 deadline on whether to allow new recruits who were transgender.

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