Should taxpayers fund sex changes and hormone therapy for soldiers, sailors and marines who suffer from "gender dysphoria" and are in the process of "transitioning" from male to female or vice versa?

"Yes," say all of the Democrats and 24 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.

An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 that would have banned Pentagon funding of surgeries for transgenders in the U.S. military failed to pass the House Thursday night by a vote of 209-214.

Not only did 24 Republicans cross over and vote with the Democrats, but another six Republicans did not even bother to vote on Rep. Vicky Hartzler's amendment that would have banned such funding.

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Hartzler, R-Mo., said the issue at hand was one of national defense and how best to maintain military readiness, not whether one supports transgenderism. She kept her arguments focused on readiness and economics.

“It is unfortunate that on a key national defense issue, all voting Democrats and 24 uninformed Republicans let down the troops," said Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness.

Prior to March 2015, a transgender would have been summarily discharged from service based solely on the fact that he/she was confused about their gender. Gender dysphoria has always been considered by the American Psychiatric Association as a psychological condition.

But under President Obama and former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, that all changed. The U.S. Military not only allowed transgenders to enlist but it began recruiting them.

The only question up for a vote by the House Thursday was whether the taxpayers should foot the bill for transgenders' transitional surgeries and hormone treatment.

What do YOU think? Sound off in today's WND poll on House GOP upholding Obama transgender policy.

WND called the offices of several of the 24 GOP congressmen voting against the Hartzler Amendment but none of the press secretaries for these representatives would come to the phone to discuss their bosses' votes.

The Washington Post reported:

The Republican-led House narrowly rejected a measure on Thursday that sought to strike an Obama-era practice of requiring the Pentagon to pay for gender transition surgeries and hormone therapy. Democrats described the proposal as bigoted, unconstitutional and cowardly and they won support from 24 GOP lawmakers to scuttle the amendment to the annual defense policy bill, 214-209. The amendment crafted by Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., would have forbid money from being spent by the military’s health care system for medical treatment related to gender transition. Hartzler portrayed her proposal as a good government plan aimed at assuring military dollars are spent only on critical national defense needs.

Below are the Republicans who voted with all Democrats to ensure that Hartzler's amendment to a defense spending bill did not pass:

AMASH, Mich., 3Rd District

BERGMAN, Mich., 1ST DISTRICT

COFFIN, Colo., 6TH DISTRICT

COMSTOCK, Va., 10TH

COOK Calif., 8TH DISTRICT

COSTELLO, Pa., 6TH DISTRICT

CURBELO, Fla., 26TH DISTRICT

DENHAM, Calif., 10TH DISTRICT

DENT, Pa., 15TH DISTRICT

FASO, NY, 19TH DISTRICT

FITZPATRICK, Pa., 8TH DISTRICT

ISSA, Calif., 49TH DISTRICT

KATKO, NY 24TH DISTRICT

KNIGHT, Calif., 25TH DISTRICT

LANCE, NJ, 7TH

LOBIONDO, NJ 2ND

MACARTHUR, NJ 3RD

MAST, Fla., 18TH

REED, NY, 23RD DISTRICT

REICHERT, Wash., 8TH DISTRICT

ROS LEHTINEN, Fla., 27TH DISTRICT

SHUSTER, Pa., 9TH DISTRICT

STEFANIK, NY, 21ST DISTRICT

TENNEY, NY, 101ST REPUBLICANS NOT VOTING

RODNEY DAVIS, ILL. 13TH DISTRICT

SAM JOHNSON, TEXAS 3RD DISTRICT

RAUL LABRADOR, ID 1ST DISTRICT

MARK SANFORD, SC 1ST DISTRICT

STEVE SCALISE, LA 1ST DISTRICT [Excused/medical]

DILMA VALADAO, CA 21ST DISTRICT

Tucker Carlson, on the Thursday edition of his Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight, interviewed a former Army captain who produced training manuals that show the military is being taught that soldiers, including females, should be prepared to "encounter" someone in their showers who "identifies" as a gender other than their biological gender. In other words female soldiers showering in female shower rooms must be prepared to see males who think they are females showering in their midst.

"Everybody in the force took that training. And I actually received the training manuals from a female officer who was justifiably concerned about the answers she was getting from the Army about this policy," said Capt. James Hasson.

Hasson said he was not aware of anyone in the leadership of the U.S. military establishment who is arguing that this policy will make America's military a more effective combat force.

"I know the Obama administration's justification was we had to avail ourselves of all available talent, but then you had a guest on the other night who said 'well it's only had a minimal impact on readiness.' And that is a pretty clear indicator that this is not making us safer," Hasson told Carlson.

"You can't get someone to come on the show and talk about this," Carlson responded. "Thank you for being brave enough to do it. Everyone is so intimidated. I don't know why."

Watch Tucker Carlson interview former U.S. Army Capt. James Hasson who explains how recruitment of transgenders into the military will affect military readiness.

Donnelly said Thursday's vote signifies that the six-month suspension of an Obama Administration mandate to recruit transgenders, which Defense Secretary James Mattis announced on the eve of the July 1 deadline, is by no means adequate.

Under directives set to go into effect on Jan. 1, new recruits with gender dysphoria will need to wait only 18 months before receiving costly military health-care treatments that render them non-deployable for long periods of time.

“The Pentagon refuses to explain why leaders of the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps initially asked for a two-year delay," Donnelly said. "Members of the House and Senate should insist on sufficient time to consider the military chiefs’ concerns, and to take a serious look at all aspects of this issue."

Donnelly noted that a recently-released CMR Special Report reveals and analyzes the absurd and sometimes bizarre plans incorporated in Obama administration transgender mandates.

The 27-page CMR Special Report discloses and provides links to 15 Defense Department and military service directives that are based on politically-correct beliefs that defy science and common sense. These expendable administrative directives, written in consultation with LGBT activist groups and like-minded contractors such as RAND, deserve serious congressional review, measured against requirements of military readiness, Donnelly said.

“Social experiments with the lives of people who deserve better will create many problems that detract from impacts on morale and readiness," she said.

She provided the following examples:

Unlimited expenditures for lifetime hormone treatments and sometimes irreversible surgeries. (Transgender advocates demand special status for recruits seeking lifetime medical benefits despite deployability problems. They also demand coverage for veterans in an already over-loaded system, and for family dependents, including minor children);

Infringements on personal privacy in conditions of forced intimacy;

Demoralizing pressures on military commanders, doctors, and nurses to approve, participate in, or perform procedures that violate medical ethics or sincerely-held personal or religious convictions;

Negative impacts on morale and cohesion when side effects from transgender treatments and surgeries negatively affect combat deployability and readiness;

Establishment of a network of remote “Service Central Coordination Cells” (SCCCs) allowing LGBT consultants to politicize the Military Health System;

Erosion of trust in military leaders who endorse medical delusions; and

Diversion of scarce time and resources in pursuit of politically-correct social agendas that are not consistent with sound priorities in the military.

“Facts in the CMR Special Report and other independent analyses clearly discredit claims that the Pentagon can justify high costs and negative impacts on morale, deployability and mission readiness," Donnelly said.

"Democratic party leaders, predictably, resorted to their usual hyperbolic rhetoric – an obvious sign that they have no rational arguments. Untruthful vitriol from LGBT activists cannot disguise the fact that there is no excuse for forcing military people to act upon ideological theories that are contradicted by science and common sense."

The narrow House vote shifts responsibility to the Senate, as well as to Defense Secretary Mattis and President Donald Trump.

"Because President Trump has a mandate to strengthen our military and put an end to politically-correct mandates that harm readiness, this initial vote is only the beginning of what should be a more principled, informed debate and corrective action to restore sound priorities," Donnelly said.

The vote comes at a time when budget cuts are harming readiness in all branches of the military, contributing to deadly problems such as escalating Marine Corps aviation tragedies, she added.

“Instead of following Congresswoman Hartzler’s principled lead, all Democrats and [24] Republicans voted for open-ended spending for transgender treatments and surgeries. House members who let down the troops showed indifference, irresponsibility, or poor understanding of military realities."