(LifeSiteNews) — Missouri Congressman Bob Onder is urging Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to eliminate tax subsidies for transgender medical procedures.
“The tacit tolerance of a radical movement that has subjected thousands of American children to baseless medical treatments with grave consequences should be of serious concern to all of us,” Onder wrote in a letter obtained by The Daily Wire.
“We must ensure that this misguided acceptance does not result in Americans unknowingly and indirectly subsidizing the cost of these procedures.”
As noted by The Daily Wire, “[t]he IRS currently designates so-called gender procedures as a ‘qualifying medical expense,’ meaning patients can pay for these procedures with tax-advantaged Health Savings Accounts and subsidized Affordable Care Act insurance plans.”
The letter comes in response to the recent pattern of transgender-linked violence in America. Onder’s letter outlines five such incidents, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the Minnesota Catholic school shooting.
Onder continued, “As Congress and the Trump Administration consider advancing policy proposals aimed at addressing the underlying conditions that led to Mr. Kirk’s assassination, it would be a grave mistake not to acknowledge the role transgender ideology has played in inflicting harm on our nation’s children.”
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Onder, a practicing Catholic and founding member of St. Gianna Catholic Church in Wentzville, Missouri, has been at the center of several nationwide efforts to curb transgender ideology and abortion.
In August, Onder was part of the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, which sought to punish anyone who “knowingly transports a minor across a state line, with the intent that such minor obtain an abortion,” with penalties that included up to a year in prison.
In September, Onder introduced legislation to federally ban underage “gender transition” procedures across state lines.
“No healthcare professional, physician, hospital, or clinic shall, in a circumstance described in subsection (b), participate in the chemical or surgical mutilation of a child,” the bill stated.
Rep. Onder echoed these concerns in his letter to Bessent by addressing how transgender ideology frequently targets the most vulnerable children.
“Children are the most vulnerable members of our country, and they deserve leaders who will protect them,” he wrote.
“This action alone will make a marked impact on the well-being of children nationwide, and will end this country’s moral retreat into the acceptance of a radical ideology that defies biological reality and puts our citizens at risk.”