Hate group to host Congresswoman who funneled its false data

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, hate group stooge.

Hate group the Family Research Council is in bragging mood about the fact that it has a Congressional leader in its hip pocket:

If there was an unsung hero in the effort to end social experimentation in our military, it’s Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.). She tackled the issue of transgenderism in the military that many Republicans don’t even want to talk about (let alone fight). Vicky has repeatedly stood up for our troops -- and America’s taxpayers. In what was one of the fiercest debates of Trump’s first year, she stood in the fire while other members ran and hid, determined to stop what Barack Obama started: the decimation of the world’s greatest fighting force. 

Although the House didn’t reward her hard work, President Trump did, ordering a halt to the previous administration’s policy to let the gender confused serve. In a series of tweets that exploded across social media, the president was clear: “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.” 

For conservatives, it was a powerful and crystallizing moment. But a lot of the credit for raising that issue belongs to Vicky. Her amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would have blocked the use of taxpayer money to pay for gender reassignment surgery or hormone treatments was narrowly defeated -- but it helped focus the White House’s attention on the issue.  

Tomorrow, October 24, Congresswoman Hartzler is going to personally deliver an update on where the fight for our military currently stands in a special FRC Speaker Series talk, “Keeping Our Military Ready: Why Radical Social Experimentation in Our Armed Forces Must End.” You won’t want to miss this important conversation! Join us at FRC headquarters

According to People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch in 2010:

Mother Jones posited that Hartzler might be the “most anti-gay candidate in America”– she believes that repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell will “put us at risk,” maintains that sexual orientation is a choice and therefore gay people aren’t entitled to civil rights, and dubbed hate crimes legislation one of the “the extreme agenda items of the gay movement.”

For those who don't remember, Hartzler was a key Congressional leader in the attempt to remove transgender troops from the military. Most infamously, she pushed for an unsuccessful amendment which would have banned military funding of transition-related health coverage.

Hartzler claimed the funding of transition-related health coverage was too expensive.According to a June 29 article in ThinkProgress, she claimed that in the first 10 years of allowing transgender troops to serve openly, it would cost the military $1.3 billion to cover transition-related services

But her numbers were way off:

A Rand Corporation study completed last year for the Defense Department estimated that 1,320 to 6,630 people in the armed forces were transgender, out of 1.3 million service members. The study estimated the medical costs associated with transgender service members would be $2.4 million to $8.4 million annually, with 10 to 130 service members having reduced deployability because of the medical treatments.

Hartzler's office ignored requests from ThinkProgress to say what source she used for her numbers. She told CNN that her office did its own tabulating, then she cited another study from the Family Research Council which claimed a higher number.

She repeated her figures in several interviews, while ignoring the figures from RAND. And though her amendment failed, Trump used her lie about the supposed high cost of transition-related services as an excuse for his executive order to ban transgender troops.

Let's be clear about something.

Congresswoman Hartzler does not stand for the troops and she is no hero. She is a perfect example of a demagogue who is so blinded by her own ego that she has no problem harming even those who fight for her freedom. She is a liar who funneled inaccurate information through Congress -  information which was created for the sole purpose of denigrating transgender troops. When Hartzler meets with FRC, I doubt she will be giving any updates. If anything, she will probably be given marching orders.