Washington DC - Congress approved its mammoth annual defense budget on Wednesday, raising troops' pay while blocking funding of some gender-affirming care for transgender children of service members.

The $884 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – rubber-stamped by the Democratic-majority Senate a week after clearing the Republican House of Representatives – gives a 14.5% pay increase to junior enlisted troops and 4.5% for other personnel.

But talks over the 1,800-page-plus text were complicated by a last-minute Republican intervention to prevent the military's health program from covering gender-affirming care for children of service members if it results in "sterilization" – a common anti-trans argument that is not based in scientific evidence.

"Tax dollars should not support procedures and treatments that could permanently harm and sterilize young people," House Speaker Mike Johnson said after the bill passed the lower chamber.

Donald Trump Trump set to make unwanted history after suffering huge blow in hush money case

"This year's NDAA takes a critical and necessary step to protect the children of American service members."

Gender-affirming care for minors usually includes puberty blockers or other hormone therapies, which can be reversed and do not cause sterility.

Democratic Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin complained that the measure would strip vital health care away from an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 children of service members who are transgender.

"It eliminates the ability of military families to work with medical professionals and make their own decisions about the health care needs of their own children," he said.

The funding restriction angered progressives and prompted the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith, to come out against the legislation.

The NDAA – a bill that Congress has sent to the president's desk without fail every year since 1961 – increases the budget by 1% and, with funding from other sources, brings total planned spending to just under $900 billion for 2025.

"This NDAA isn't perfect, but it still includes some very good things that Democrats fought for," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.