Corrected 3:46 p.m. | House Republicans attempting to tie the reauthorization of a critical pediatrician training program to efforts to limit gender-affirming care for transgender children acknowledge those efforts will collapse. Now lawmakers are looking to fund the program as-is through the appropriations process.
Federal authorization for the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Program, which trains more than half of pediatric specialists and almost half of general pediatricians nationwide, lapsed on Sept. 30.
Earlier this year, the Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a reauthorization bill that bars any federal funds from going to hospitals that provide gender-affirming care. That provision was a nonstarter for Democrats, who wanted to see a clean reauthorization of the physician training program.
